Srinagar: Several Indian students left stranded in Pakistan by the Covid-19 lockdown are hoping the countries can briefly reopen the border to allow their passage back home. Their plea came after Pakistan decided to remove coronavirus-related restrictions from its border with Afghanistan to let Afghan visitors return home.
The Wagah-Attari border between India and Pakistan was sealed last month as part of an effort to restrict the spread of coronavirus, even though the lockdown has been eased to allow some people to return home. The countries also suspended plane operations, virtually sealing themselves against potential carriers from other nations, while also calling off movement of trains.
The complete shutdown of travel options left several Indian students in Pakistan, most of them from Jammu & Kashmir, at sea. The bulk of these students are believed to be enrolled in colleges in Sindh province, which has among the highest number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan.
ThePrint couldn’t verify the exact number of Indian students currently in Pakistan. However, four medical students approached for this report said there might be over 50 students from J&K alone, the majority of whom were in Sindh province.
“Our university was shut down on 1 March. Initially, we were told the campus will open in a few weeks and we could continue to stay there, but then, on 18 March, some university officials visited us and requested that we exit the campus as the number of cases was rising in Karachi,” said an Indian student pursuing MBBS in the Sindh capital. “They suggested we go home and gave us 3-4 days’ notice.”
According to the student, they reached the Wagah border on 19 March, but were not allowed to cross over in light of India’s order to seal the border.
“Officials informed us (at Wagah) that the Indian side had sealed the border. They said we could move ahead only if the Indian side permits. But that did not happen,” the student said. “We tweeted to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), our parents began ringing up officials in India, but we heard nothing until the evening.”
The students said they had to eventually turn back, and were now either staying in private hostels or homes of friends or distant relatives.
ThePrint has approached the MEA for a comment about the students’ situation, but was yet to receive a response by the time of publishing.
Earlier, in a tweet on 26 March, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had advised stranded Indian students in Pakistan to “observe precautions against #Covid19 and stay safe”.
“They may contact the High Commission at 03028514549. We are there to monitor the safety and well-being of all Indians in Pakistan,” it had added.
A second student who was part of the group that went to Wagah told ThePrint via WhatsApp that Pakistani officials took down their details and asked their universities to accommodate them.
“Most of the students present at the border that day were from Sindh province, and we did not want to go back because the province has been hit very hard (by Covid-19),” the student said.
“So the officials booked a private hostel in Lahore for the girls. The boys volunteered to stay at homes of friends or relatives in other provinces of Pakistan. But we just want to go back home,” the student added. “The authorities can quarantine us but let us be back in Kashmir.”
A third student cited the arrangement between Pakistan and Afghanistan and asked why Islamabad and New Delhi couldn’t do the same.
“We have been calling the helpline numbers and even tweeted to the external affairs minister and the Indian high commission in Pakistan but there hasn’t been any response yet,” said the student.
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Stuck in quarantine
While these students are desperate to return to India, those who did manage to come back before 19 March have not been able to return home either.
A batch of 19 medical students who came through the Wagah-Attari border on 18 March were quarantined at once at Shri Vivekananda Rehabilitation Centre in Amritsar. They were supposed to stay at the centre for two weeks, until 1 April, but they were still there as of Monday.
“We were issued medical certificates that stated we were medically fit. The district magistrate in Amritsar, who has been extremely kind to us, said we were ready to go. A bus was also arranged but we were informed that the Kathua district magistrate has said we can’t enter J&K as the (states’) border has been sealed,” said Nusrat.
She added that 29 other Indian nationals quarantined with them were allowed to go home in different parts of the country but not them. “We don’t know until when we are supposed to stay here,” she said.
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