Fresh Delhi-Islamabad tensions split families, dash reunions

India suspends visa services for Pakistanis following deadly attack in Kashmir

- Debarshi Dasgupta

ATTARI, Punjab - April 26 was meant to be a day of joy for Ms Baskari.

The Pakistani national had come all the way from Karachi to India along with her husband, Mr Muhammad Rasheed, to attend her niece's wedding scheduled for that day in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

But Ms Baskari, who was born in India and uses only one name, could not make it to the wedding in the end.

Forced to cut short her visit, she found herself back at the India-Pakistan border at Attari on April 26, wiping away her tears as she waited to cross over into Pakistan.

"Everyone is at the wedding but here we are, travellers on the road," Ms Baskari told The Straits Times. "I came so close, and yet I was pushed far away," she rued.

The couple were among more than 50 individuals waiting on April 26 for the border to open so that they could return home before the April 27 deadline set by the Indian government for Pakistani nationals to leave the country.

The order followed a terror attack in Kashmir on April 22 that killed 27 people, an act the Indian government blames on Pakistan.

It has cut short hard-won cross-border family reunions and even split families, accentuating the human cost of the renewed chill in the ties between the two South Asian neighbours.

Ms Baskari and Mr Rasheed had worked hard for the visit that came after a gap of 10 years, persevering through an arduous 14-month-long visa process that saw their applications being rejected twice.

"I was really happy (the day I got my visa)," said the 48-year-old woman. "I called (my family) right away, telling them to tell our relatives that we would be coming for the wedding." People-to-people links between India and Pakistan have always been impeded by bilateral tensions, with New Delhi long accusing Islamabad of fomenting crossborder terrorism in Kashmir. It is a charge Pakistan denies.

The two countries have gone to full-blown war over the disputed region twice.