India's sabre-rattling takes its toll on innocent lives

A Pakistani family's seven-year struggle to obtain medical treatment for their children in India ended in devastation when their visas were abruptly cancelled amidst escalating tensions between India and Pakistan last week, a media report said on Wednesday.

According to BBC, Shahid Ali and his wife Ambareen had been trying to secure Indian visas for seven years to get medical treatment for their children, Mansa, 7, and Abdullah, 9, who suffer from a rare heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).

After finally obtaining the visas, they arrived at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences in Faridabad, Haryana, on April 21 – just a day before the killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Without providing any evidence, the Indian government blamed Pakistan for the attack and announced a raft of punitive measures, including cancelling of the visas of the Pakistani citizens. The Pakistanis in India were told to leave the country in seven days.

According to the report, the doctors at the hospital supported every possible way, including pushing up the date of the surgery, but in vain. "An official came and informed us that our visas had been cancelled. Upon hearing this, my wife broke down in tears," BBC quoted Shahid Ali as saying.

"When we started preparing to return, the children asked why we were going back without getting treatment. This time, it wasn't just my wife—we both cried. When I couldn't find an answer, I simply told them, 'We'll come again'." Now they had returned to Larkana.

Shahid Ali and his family were among those Pakistanis affected by the Indian government's strict measures following the April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed.

The family's ordeal is a testament to the human cost of the Indian government's sabre-rattling vis-a-vis Pakistan. However, this is not the only heart-breaking story. The cancellation of medical visas has affected numerous Pakistani families, who had travelled to India for treatment.

Karachi-based Mohammad Imran was another individual, who had been affected. His 16-year-old son Ayaan is paralysed, and Imran had taken him to India for treatment in March. After Pahalgam incident, he was told to leave the country in 48 hours.

However, Imran's ordeal does not end there, according to the report. Since, India also cancelled the Pakistani visas granted to the Indian citizens, Imran could return to Pakistan with his son, but his wife could not accompany them, because she happens to be an Indian citizen.

With their treatment disrupted and their visas revoked, the affected families have appealed to the Pakistani government to help them secure medical treatment abroad.