By Muhammad Luqman
India has allowed around 300 of its nationals, currently in Pakistan, to return after both the countries eased lockdown restrictions that were imposed in March this year to control the the coronavirus pandemic, Geo TV reported.
The Indian nationals will return via Wagah-Attari border, which will be reopened on Saturday.
Around 80 students from Indian-Occupied Kashmiriare also among those leaving for India. These students were studying at different educational institutions in Lahore.
Currently, 10 Indian nationals are residing in Islamabad, while 12 Indians are staying at their relatives’ homes in Nankana Sahib.
It was reported that around 200 Indian nationals are staying in different cities in Sindh.
On wednesday, another 176 Pakistani citizens who were stranded in India after the outbreak of COVID-19 arrived in Lahore via Wagah border, reported Radio Pakistan.
They will be kept at quarantine centers in Lahore prior to their departure to native towns.
These Pakistanis were stranded in different Indian states including Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and Delhi, due to the extended lockdown and closure of Attari-Wagah border following the outbreak of coronavirus.
More than four hundred stranded Pakistanis have already been repatriated from India via Attari-Wagah border since March 20.
Earlier this month, the Indian government had allowed 193 Pakistanis stranded in the country due to the coronavirus lockdown, to return.
The Indian External Affairs Ministry had directed state police chiefs to facilitate the travel of the stranded Pakistanis back to their country via the Attari-Wagah border crossing on May 5.
