An Indian woman has been allegedly stopped at the Attari-Wagah border point in Punjab from crossing into Pakistan after the Centre ordered Pakistani nationals to leave in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. While the woman, Sana, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Meerut who is married to a Pakistani citizen, was stopped because she had an Indian passport, her children, a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, were allowed to leave as they had Pakistani passports. The 30-year-old was among the short-term visa holders who were ordered to leave India by Sunday.

Sana, who got married to Bilal, a doctor in Karachi, in 2020, had recently come to her hometown to meet her parents. Sana said she was told by the officials to leave the country when the Centre issued a notice, asking Pakistani nationals to return after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Pahalgam on April 22. Accompanied by her family members, she then left for the Attari-Wagah border with her children on Friday.

She, however, was stopped and told to return to Meerut because of her Indian passport. "My children can't stay here and I can't go there," she told reporters. "My husband had also come to the border to receive us," she said.

Sana said this was her second trip to India after her marriage, with the first one being about 3 years ago. Calling for the "strictest" punishment for those behind the Pahalgam attack, she appealed to the government to let her and her children go to Pakistan.