Stuck in Pakistan, Ahmedabad woman struggles to bring young sons with LTV home

AHMEDABAD: Every morning at dawn, Bhavita Maheshwari, 34, clutches the hands of her two young sons as they head towards the Attari-Wagah border, praying for a miracle. But by afternoon, they return to their hotel in Lahore, hearts heavier than the day before.
Once Pakistani Hindus, Bhavita and her husband were granted Indian citizenship earlier this year, while their sons still live in India on long-term visas (LTV). After visiting Pakistan during summer holidays, the family is now stuck at the border, caught in a bureaucratic nightmare following the suspension of visa services after the recent terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Kashmir. With no official guidance in sight, hope is running thin.

Bhavita, who lives in Ahmedabad, had taken her sons — Lavish, 11, and Krishna, 7 — to Umarkot in Pakistan during their school vacation to visit relatives. But now, they find themselves stranded after India suspended visa services for Pakistani nationals, and Pakistan retaliated by setting deadlines for Indians to leave.
Bhavita Maheshwari and her husband Narendra moved to India in 2015 and opened a shop in Naroda. While the couple was granted Indian citizenship earlier this year, their sons' status remained unchanged, and they live in India on LTVs. And because the boys still carry Pakistani passports, authorities at the border refuse to let them cross without fresh instructions from the Indian govt.
"I am being forced to leave Pakistan as I am an Indian citizen there on a NORI visa. But how can I leave and abandon my children?" Bhavita told TOI over the phone. "We go to the border every morning, plead with officials, and wait for hours for a response. But there is no answer. Every day ends the same — we come back to Lahore by 3pm, heartbroken," she describes her routine for the past four days.
The ministry of home affairs recently clarified that the revocation of visas "does not apply to the long-term visas already issued to Hindu Pakistani nationals". Yet, on the ground, confusion and fear persist.
Narendra, anxiously waiting in Ahmedabad, said: "I do not know when they will allow my children back. They missed their chance today because they could not reach the border on time. Tomorrow, they will try again."
Bhavita estimates around 150 other Pakistani nationals — mostly Hindus living in India on LTVs — are similarly stranded after brief visits back to Pakistan.
Premkumar Maheshwari, 49, is one of them. A resident of India since 2009 after marrying an Indian citizen, he runs a crockery shop in Memco. Premkumar had travelled to Pakistan after a family member's death and was handling paperwork for the deceased's children, who live in India, when the Pahalgam terror attack changed everything. Now, he too waits, uncertain of when he will be allowed to come back home.