'Ordinary people like us are suffering unjustly': Pakistan and India border closure separates families

Two months ago, Haider Ali waved goodbye to his wife as she left Pakistan, crossing the border to visit her family in India. Now the couple are not sure when they will see each other again.

Pakistan and India are locked in an escalating diplomatic war of words after New Delhi said Islamabad was linked to a militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir this week.

Both sides have cancelled visas for Indian and Pakistani nationals respectively and ordered them to leave, before both shut their busiest border crossing in Punjab.

"She's on the Indian side of the border and they're not letting her cross. I'm extremely worried," Ali, a 31-year-old heating technician, told AFP.

Ali said his wife, an Indian national, has a Pakistani visa valid until November and was due to return home to Karachi soon, as he waited for news on the Pakistani side of the crossing.

"The real terrorists should be caught and action taken against them, but it's ordinary people like us who are suffering unjustly," he added.

Indian police have launched a manhunt for the fugitive gunmen, two of whom they claim are Pakistani.

The orders for Pakistanis and Indians to return home have distressed many families of mixed nationalities, who often struggle to obtain visas because of poor relations between the Hindu-majority Indian and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Yasmine, 54, who gave up her Indian passport to marry a Pakistani, rushed to the border to return home after visiting family in India for the first time in 15 years.

While she crossed with her Pakistani papers, her niece travelling with her and also married to a Pakistani was left stranded at the border, prevented from crossing back into the country because she only has an Indian passport.

"She's just crying. We absolutely must give her a visa as soon as possible. Her four children are here in Pakistan, waiting for her," Yasmine told AFP.

'To part like this' 

The measures have also abruptly ended rare visits to see relatives separated for generations by the border, born out of India's independence from the British in 1947.

"I'm Indian, I love India, but my family is here. And it's not like I hate Pakistan — I love Pakistan too," said 39-year-old Ghaffar Musafir, who lives in Indian-administered Kashmir.

He had hoped to spend longer rekindling ties with his relatives, travelling to the Pakistani city of Lahore to apply for an extension before diplomatic relations plunged.

"And now I'm leaving my family behind — you can see for yourself the kind of connection we have, how it feels to part like this."

Pakistan's foreign ministry said it did not know how many Indian nationals were in the country, but said Sikh pilgrims would be allowed to stay.

"We can only hope that things get better as soon as possible," said Musafir, before heading east, behind rows of barriers, soldiers, and flags.

A deadly attack

The tensions come after at least 24 people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir when gunmen opened fire on tourists on Tuesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi decried the "heinous act" in the summer retreat of Pahalgam, pledging the attackers "will be brought to justice".

The killings come a day after Modi met with US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day tour of India with his wife and children.

A tour guide told AFP he reached the scene of the attack after hearing gunfire and had transported some of the wounded away on horseback.

"I saw a few men lying on the ground looking like they were dead," said Waheed, who gave only one name.

An AFP reporter at Pahalgam spoke to another witness of the shooting who asked not to be identified.

"The militants, I can't say how many, came out of the forest near an open small meadow and started firing," said the witness, who cares for the horses that are popular with tourists in the area.

"They were clearly sparing women and kept shooting at men, sometimes single shot and sometimes many bullets, it was like a storm."

The witness said dozens of people fled as the gunmen opened fire.

"They all started running around in panic", he added.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that "the attack is much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years," with the death toll "still being ascertained".

"This attack on our visitors is an abomination," he said in a statement. "The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt."

'Holiday destination' 

In recent years, the authorities have promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for winter skiing, and to escape the sweltering summer heat elsewhere in India.

Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, the majority domestic visitors.

In 2023, India hosted a G20 tourism meeting in Srinagar under tight security in a bid to show that what officials call "normalcy and peace" were returning after a massive crackdown.

A string of resorts are being developed, including some close to the heavily militarised de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

India regularly blames Pakistan for backing gunmen behind the insurgency. Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir's struggle for self-determination.

The worst attack in recent years took place in Pulwama in February 2019, when insurgents rammed a car packed with explosives into a police convoy killing 40 and wounding at least 35 others.

The deadliest recent attack on civilians was in March 2000, when 36 Indians were killed. That attack occurred on the eve of a visit by US president Bill Clinton.