Pahalgam terror attack: India cancels all visas issued to Pakistanis, except long-term ones for Hindus

New Delhi: India on Thursday moved to stop almost all people-to-people contact with Pakistan, completely suspending visa services for the citizens of the neighbouring country with immediate effect and revoking the travel documents already issued to them with effect from coming Sunday.

The long-term visas issued to the Hindu Pakistanis for travelling to India, however, would not be revoked, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi stated.

The medical visas issued to the citizens of Pakistan for travelling to India for healthcare needs, however, will remain valid for two additional days – till Tuesday, according to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. India also asked all its citizens in Pakistan to return immediately.

In the wake of the terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Kashmir on Tuesday, New Delhi had on Wednesday decided to cancel all travel documents issued to the citizens of Pakistan permitting them to enter India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES). The citizens of Pakistan currently in India under the SVES scheme had been given 48 hours to leave. A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had also decided to close the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at the Attari-Wagah border between the two countries and had asked all citizens of Pakistan who had entered India through the ICP to leave by May 1.

The terrorists owing allegiance to the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba based in Pakistan carried out the carnage at Baisaran Meadow, nearly seven kilometres from Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday. They killed 25 citizens of India and a citizen of Nepal.

“In continuation of the decisions made by the Cabinet Committee on Security in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Government of India has decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said in New Delhi on Thursday. “All existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from April 27, 2025.”

He said that the medical visas issued to citizens of Pakistan to visit India for healthcare purposes would be valid only till April 29, 2025. “All Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave India before the expiry of their visas, as now amended,” added the MEA spokesperson.

The MEA strongly advised citizens of India to avoid travelling to Pakistan. Those Indian nationals currently in Pakistan were also advised to return to India at the earliest.