Indian authorities have ordered Pakistani children stranded in India to return home without their mothers, as tensions between India and Pakistan spiral after a deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir.
The attack, which killed 26 Indian tourists near Pahalgam last week, has triggered a diplomatic and military crisis. India blames Pakistan for the massacre, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to hunt down the “terrorists” and their “backers” to the “ends of the earth.” Pakistan denies any involvement, warning of retaliatory measures against any Indian aggression.
The normally ceremonial flag-lowering at Wagah — a symbol of carefully maintained hostility between the two nuclear-armed neighbors — unfolded this weekend with unusual frostiness. Indian and Pakistani troops, usually performing a choreographed handshake after the ritual, pointedly ignored each other, reflecting the collapse in diplomatic ties.
Amid reports that India is considering military action similar to past surgical strikes following attacks in 2016 and 2019, citizens gathered near the border demanded a strong response. “War is the only answer,” said Ravish Shulka, a visitor from central India.
Meanwhile, the human cost of the political showdown is growing. At the Wagah border immigration office, desperate scenes unfolded as Indian women who married Pakistani men were barred from entering Pakistan. Their children, holding Pakistani passports, were ordered to leave India within 48 hours — alone.
Nazreen Iqbal, who had been visiting her family near Delhi with her two young children, was among those caught in the middle. Denied entry into Pakistan and unable to stay in India, she faces an impossible choice. “I am not sending them alone. The youngest is disabled,” she said tearfully, standing in the shade of a peepal tree.
The closure of the Wagah crossing — the only legal land route between the two countries — takes effect today. India has suspended its decades-old water-sharing treaty, expelled Pakistan’s military attaché from Delhi, and revoked Pakistani visas, while Pakistan has canceled all visas issued to Indians.
Beyond the personal tragedies, the closure has left Sikh pilgrims and traders distraught. Many Sikhs, who traditionally travel to Lahore — the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of their faith — now find themselves cut off from cherished spiritual and historical sites. “It’s partition all over again,” one Sikh man said solemnly, sipping tea at a roadside stall near the closed border.
The crisis threatens to reignite one of the world’s most dangerous rivalries, as Kashmir — the disputed region at the heart of three wars since 1947 — once again becomes a flashpoint. Experts warn that while limited military action seems likely, both nations are wary of tipping into full-scale war.
For now, the dusty road to the border is lined with stranded families, weeping mothers, and children clutching stuffed animals — caught in a geopolitical storm they cannot possibly understand.
