India revokes visas issued to Pakistani nationals; asks Indians in Pakistan to return home immediately

• 

  
  

• An Indian citizen walks past security personnel at an Integrated Check Post as he returns from Pakistan, near the Attari-Wagah border, in Amritsar district, Punjab, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (PTI Photo/Shiva Sharma)

• 
  

• NEW DELHI — India on Thursday announced revoking all visas issued to Pakistani nationals from April 27 and advised Indian nationals residing in Pakistan to return home at the earliest as tensions between the two countries escalated over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
•  
  
• New Delhi also announced suspending visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect as part of the retaliatory measures over the cross-border links to the worst terror strike on civilians in India since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
•  
  
• The latest move came a day after India announced a raft of measures against Pakistan including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.

Also read: Cross-border links to Pahalgam terror attack: India downgrades diplomatic ties with Pakistan

Pahalgam terror attack: India withholds Pakistan govt's official X account

Pahalgam terror attack: PM package govt employees in Kashmir asked to work from home

• The punitive measures against Pakistan were decided at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
•  
  
• The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said all existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from April 27.
•  
  
• It said medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be valid only till April 29.
•  
  
• The MEA said all Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave the country before the expiry of visas.
•  
  
• It also "strongly advised" Indian nationals to avoid travelling to Pakistan.
•  
  
• "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," the MEA said in a statement.
• 
  
•  
  
• "All existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from April 27. Medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be valid only till April 29."
•  
  
• "All Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave India before the expiry of visas, as now amended," it said.
•  
  
• The number of Pakistani nationals holding Indian visas is not immediately known.
•  
  
• "Indian nationals are strongly advised to avoid travelling to Pakistan. Those Indian nationals currently in Pakistan are also advised to return to India at the earliest," the MEA said.
•  
  
• The new retaliatory actions shut down the few existing diplomatic mechanisms between the two sides taking bilateral relations to yet another new low.
•  
  
• As part of the punitive measures, India on Wednesday also announced expelling Pakistan's three military attaches and directed Islamabad to to downsize the staff strength at its high commission in New Delhi from 55 to 30.
•  
  
• New Delhi also asked all Pakistanis who entered the country via the Attari land border to leave by May 1.
•  
  
• Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and any such visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled, India said on Wednesday.
•  
  
• In its response to India's measures, Pakistan on Thursday announced shutting its airspace to all Indian airlines and suspended trade with New Delhi including through third countries.
•  
  
• Pakistan also rejected India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and said any measures to stop the flow of water belonging to Pakistan under the pact will be seen as an "act of war".
•  
  
• Amid nationwide outrage over the terror strike, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the killers of Pahalgam will be pursued "to the ends of the earth" as he promised to "identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers".
•  
  
• In an address at a rally in Bihar's Madhubani, Modi vowed to punish terrorists behind the strike and said India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism.
•  
  
• "Friends, today from the soil of Bihar, I say to the whole world India will identify, track, and punish every terrorist and their backers," he said.
•  
  
• "We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished," he added.
•  
  
• "Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done. The entire nation is firm in this resolve. Everyone who believes in humanity is with us. I thank the people of various countries and their leaders who have stood with us in these times," he said.
•