India asks Pakistani visa holders to return by April 29: How India has been medically helping Pakistani citizens for years and still getting backstabbed
On 22nd April, Islamic terrorists unleashed horror in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. They targeted Hindu tourists in a brutal ambush, leaving 26 dead and over a dozen injured. Lashkar-e-Taiba’s offshoot, The Resistance Front (TRF), took responsibility for the attack. The Pakistan-sponsored attack showed the ceaseless hostility of the neighbouring nation. In its aftermath, India started taking strict actions on all possible fronts.
The Government of India has ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave India by 27th April, except Pakistani Hindus who have already been granted Long Term Visas (LTVs). Also, Pakistani nationals who are in India for medical treatment have time till 29th April to leave. India has extended compassion even to its enemy nations like Pakistan for years. However, the message is now clear: betrayal will not be rewarded with kindness.
India’s decisive response – pack up and leave
India has had enough of the backstabbing by the hostile neighbour. In a move that signals zero tolerance, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has instructed all Pakistani nationals holding medical visas to pack their bags and leave by 29th April. According to the fresh directive issued by the ministry, no extensions will be entertained. Also, existing permissions have been revoked with immediate effect. This includes patients undergoing treatment for life-threatening conditions, which reflects just how severely Pakistan’s duplicity has tested the patience of India.
The instructions, issued through formal communications and annexures, leave no room for doubt: hospitality extended out of humanity cannot be a free pass for those whose nation exports terror.
A history of undeserved compassion
For decades, India has opened its doors to Pakistani citizens who needed urgent medical care. India often fast-tracked visas for treatments that could not be delayed. From transplants to cancer treatments and open-heart surgeries, thousands were granted entry purely on humanitarian grounds.
In fact, India often relaxed visa norms, eased documentation hurdles and many times looked the other way even during heightened tensions, which is very common in the case of Pakistan. While hospitals in India healed their bodies, many times for free, Pakistan’s terror factories continued bleeding India. Compassion was offered without expectation, but there is a limit to betrayal.
India had already laid down clear procedures for Pakistani nationals
Long before the latest fallout, India had established a clear, cautious framework that governed visas to Pakistani citizens, especially medical visas. According to documentation issued by the Government of India, all Pakistani nationals seeking visas, particularly for medical treatment, were required to apply through proper diplomatic channels. The visa was granted for a maximum period of three months to those who had obtained a prior appointment for treatment. If recommended by state governments or the FRRO, the visa could be extended based on appropriate medical documents. One attendant was permitted.
A security clearance from Indian agencies was mandatory, irrespective of urgency. However, in most cases, India often sped up the process on humanitarian grounds. Applicants were required to provide detailed personal information, proof of medical necessity, and undergo background verification before any visa could be issued.
Notably, only selected designated hospitals are allowed to offer medical treatment to Pakistani patients to ensure treatments are conducted at institutions recognised and monitored by the Government of India. Patients’ family members who want to visit as attendants too needed separate security clearance.
Despite these safeguards in place, India often showcased extraordinary flexibility on humanitarian grounds. Special considerations were often given to urgent cases, including those where extensions of visas and permissions for second opinions or follow-up surgeries were required.
The recent order asking Pakistani nationals holding medical visas to leave is thus not a knee-jerk reaction. It stemmed from a system that was built carefully but has been consistently undermined by the support of terror activities by the Pakistani government and Army.
Notable cases that made headlines
Though thousands of Pakistanis get life-saving treatment in India, there have been several cases that made headlines.
Heart transplant for Pakistani teenager Ayesha Rashan
In April 2024, 19-year-old Ayesha Rashan from Pakistan underwent a life-saving heart transplant surgery at MGM Healthcare in Chennai. The surgery, which would have cost ₹35 lakh, was performed free of cost. Financial assistance was provided by the Aishwaryam Trust.
Corrective spinal surgery for Pakistani girl Afsheen Gul
In 2022, 13-year-old Afsheen Gul from Sindh, Pakistan, was brought to India for corrective spinal surgery at Apollo Hospital in Delhi. She was suffering from a severe neck deformity due to a fall in infancy. Dr Rajagopalan Krishnan performed the complex surgery free of cost. After surgery, Afsheen could walk, talk and eat independently for the first time in her life.
Then-MEA late Sushma Swaraj intervention for medical visa
In 2017, then-External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had granted visa on urgent basis to a 3-year-old Pakistani girl for open heart surgery and to a Pakistani man for liver transplant.
High-risk heart surgery for Pakistani man Zafar Ahmed Lali
In 2015, 57-year-old Zafar Ahmed Lali was brought to India for a high-risk heart surgery at the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai. Despite the complexity due to multiple blockages and a defective valve, the doctors in India successfully performed the surgery and gave him a new lease of life.
Heart surgery of Pakistani child Noor Fatima
In 2003, Pakistani child Noor Fatima underwent heart surgery free of cost in India, giving her a new lease of life. Such free treatments were a gesture of goodwill and intended to strengthen Indo-Pak relations.
Pakistan’s endless cycle of backstabbing
India has extended a hand of friendship several times to Pakistan only to be met with a dagger. Even as Indian hospitals saved countless Pakistani lives, their army and terror outfits sent death across the borders. From the Kargil war just after the Lahore talks to countless terror strikes including the Mumbai attack of 26/11 and now the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Pakistani terrorists have hit India during peace overtures.
The message from Pakistan has remained unchanged over decades—it wants animosity over amity. No amount of goodwill, visas, or life-saving surgeries could ever awaken a conscience buried under decades of hate.
Why enough is enough
For every nation, a time comes when it must choose self-respect over sentimentality. India’s decision to send back Pakistani nationals holding medical visas cannot be deemed an act of cruelty. It is an act of survival. Time and again, misplaced kindness has been repaid with backstabbing and deaths of innocents. India has finally decided to tighten the doors. India will no longer compromise national security to maintain a façade of goodwill.
The Pakistani public must understand that compassion cannot be infinite when one side thrives on violence. Finally, enough is enough.
Conclusion
The goodwill of India was never owed. It was given to a hostile terror nation for free, especially when its leaders waged war in every form imaginable. Trust has been shattered, and the possibility of rebuilding it grows dimmer every minute.
The return directive given by the Government of India is not just an administrative move; it is a symbolic one, showing Pakistan that the time has come when India’s open-heartedness cannot be mistaken for weakness. Until Pakistan dismantles the terror networks that thrive under its watch, there will be no favours, no healing hands, and no open doors from the very nation it seeks to bleed with a thousand cuts.
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