Pakistani Hindu refugees living in India are gripped by fear as the deadline approaches for Pakistani nationals to leave in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.
At a refugee colony in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, NDTV found several families who had entered India through the Wagah-Attari border. “Eklavya Bhil Basti” in Mulsagar village hosts over a thousand Hindu refugees from Pakistan who have come to India on short-term visas. But the April 27 deadline for Pakistani nationals has left them worried.
Kheto Ram, who used to live in Sindh, had left Pakistan due to continuous harassment, selling everything that they owned there. He and his family – his wife and two sons – had arrived in India just hours before the Pahalgam attack unfolded on Tuesday.
Speaking to NDTV, Mr Ram said the attack had left him fuming. As tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, the thought of returning to a “hell like Pakistan” has left him disturbed. For him, “dying in India is acceptable, but not returning to a hell like Pakistan.”
He said he has appealed to the government and the prime minister to consider his case, stating that his entire family had moved to India after selling everything they had in Pakistan.
Balam, another man from Sindh among the refugees at Eklavya Basti, his wife and young son are not keen on returning to Pakistan. Death is better than that, Balam said while his wife pleaded, “We left everything we had, please don’t send us back.”
