New Delhi: Rekha Mandhwani, 40, faints several times in a day. She suffers from hypertension. Stuck in a foreign country for close to a month, not being able to be with her ailing mother has only worsened her condition.
Rekha is a resident of Sindh in Pakistan. Her mother is currently on ventilator while she along with her family are staying at a local ashram in Agra for the last 25 days.
They reached India on March 9 and had planned to leave on March 20. "However, the borders were closed without us being informed," said Rekha's husband, Satwani Mandhwani, 45, a businessman in Sindh.
"Both my daughters, aged four and eight, have fever and refuse to eat. They just want to go home," he added.
Several other families from the neighbouring country have not been able to return home due to the closure of Wagah-Attari border in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan and India had closed the border-crossing points on March 13 as a part of efforts to check the spread of COVID-19. Along with the closure, India imposed a three-week complete lockdown on March 24 that has now been extended till May 3.
Meanwhile, there is another family stuck in Amritsar. Akash, 30, a doctor in Sindh reached India last month along with his mother and sister. They were supposed to visit their relatives in Ahmedabad and return soon after. However, they are now staying at a guest house in Amritsar for the last 23 days.
"My mother's medicines will soon be over. I am out of cash. I had to get money transferred into the bank account of the guest-house owner. There is nothing to eat here. We have been surviving on biscuits," he said.
Akash said that he had spoken to an official in the Pakistan High Commission who had assured him that they would be able to return on April 4. But that did not happen.
"I spoke to the official on March 22. He asked me to send him photographs of passport and other documents. He told me to send the car's number that I will be using to travel to the border and said that everything will be streamlined in April but nothing happened. We call them every day but in vain," Akash said, adding, "Get us home and close the borders after that."
In a letter dated April 3, 2020, Pakistan's Ministry of Interior wrote to the Director General of Pakistan Rangers stating 83 Pakistani nationals are stuck in India.
"It is requested that the above mentioned 83 Pakistani nationals (stranded in India) may be allowed to enter into Pakistan through Wagah border, following necessary health security protocols/screening and if required quarantine," read the letter.
Indian government sources said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is facilitating the return of foreign nationals in India to their respective countries. These include citizens of Pakistan.
“We understand from the High Commission of Pakistan that 169 of their nationals presently in India want to go back. We are coordinating with authorities concerned to facilitate their departure,” the sources said.
Ehsaan Ahmad, 29, currently stranded near Gurdaspur said he is in touch with close to 100 Pakistani nationals who have not been not been able to return. Ahmad had reached India on March 12 via Attari to visit his grandfather's ancestral village.
For Anju Mohanlal, 30, the crisis is more complicated. A resident of Karachi, she is stuck in Mumbai with her mother and can probably be able to return home only when international flights resume operations.
The Indian government's rule for visa for Pakistani nationals states that they need to enter and leave from the same points. This means Mohanlal will be able to leave the country only from Mumbai, unless the clause is waived under these special circumstances.
"I came to Mumbai via Dubai. Now I will have to take a flight from Mumbai. Both the countries could have informed us in advance. Just because of the India-Pakistan tension, we, the ordinary people, are suffering," she said.
Mohanlal is constantly keeping in touch with her doctor back home for her mother's medicines which have run out already. Her mother, 59, is diabetic and suffers from high blood pressure issues.
The other half of the Mohanlal family is in Karachi. "I am worried for my brother and father who have been staying on their own for almost a month now," she said.
(With inputs from Maha Siddiqui)
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