India suspends visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday announced that India has decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect following the decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.

“All existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from 27 April 2025. Medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be valid only till 29 April 2025. All Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave India before the expiry of visas, as now amended,” read a statement issued by the MEA.

It also mentioned that Indian nationals are “strongly advised” to avoid travelling to Pakistan, adding that those Indian nationals currently in Pakistan are also advised to return to India “at the earliest”.

Recognising the seriousness of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the CCS, which had met Wednesday evening under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had decided that the Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) visas. Any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled and any Pakistani national currently in India under SVES visa had 48 hours to leave India.

It was also decided to hold in abeyance with immediate effect the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.

In the briefing to the CCS, the cross-border linkages of the terrorist attack were brought out. It was noted that this attack came in the wake of the successful holding of elections in the Union Territory and its steady progress towards economic growth and development.

The CCS also announced that the Integrated Check Post Attari will be closed with immediate effect and those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1, 2025.

As many as 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were killed and several others injured in the Pahalgam terror attack.

The CCS, while condemning the attack in the strongest terms, resolved that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account.

“As with the recent extradition of Tahawwur Rana, India will be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror, or conspired to make them possible,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Wednesday.

IANS