“Our home is here. Where else can we go?”
India has deported hundreds of Pakistani women from Kashmir, separating many from their children.
The expulsions follow a deadly attack in Pahalgam on April 22, where at least 26 tourists were killed. The attack, the worst against civilians in India for nearly 20 years, plunged the region into crisis.
No group has claimed responsibility.
But India blamed Pakistan for backing cross-border terrorism and launched a nationwide effort to expel Pakistani citizens, including long-term residents.
The Attari-Wagah border crossing was shut on April 30.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered chief ministers to ensure all Pakistanis left by the government’s deadline.
The order was later amended to allow “Pakistani nationals… to exit India till further orders, with due clearances”.
Among those targeted are women who arrived more than a decade ago under a peace and rehabilitation scheme.
The 2010 policy was designed to let former militants return home with their families.
Many of the deported women had lived in Kashmir for years.
Mushtaq Ahmad Joo, from Bandipora, told The Telegraph:
“We feel betrayed. They brought us here under the rehabilitation policy, and now they want to deport my wife.”
His wife Nyla Mushtaq was originally from Abbottabad in Pakistan. She returned to Indian-administered Kashmir in 2017 with her husband and two children via Nepal.
Joo, a former militant, cannot hold an Indian passport. Nyla gave up her Pakistani one but was never granted Indian papers.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, many disillusioned militants crossed into Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Years later, the rehabilitation policy offered them a chance to return to India with their families.
But the policy made no legal provision for the Pakistani wives many brought back.
Despite this, dozens of women entered India through Nepal and settled with their families in Kashmir.
They now face expulsion without their husbands or children.
One of the women, Saira Salim, said: “Our home is here. Where else can we go?”
Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the April 22 attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government accused Pakistan of complicity and promised retaliation.
Pakistan denied the charge. It warned of consequences if India launches military action.
On May 1, 2025, the United States urged both nations to step back from the brink and pursue peace.
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