The lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in thousands stranded for days waiting to get home as borders across the world are sealed, but the novel coronavirus has forced open the Wagah-Attari border between India and Pakistan.
Twenty-nine Indians coming back from Pakistan had been stranded at the Wagah-Attari border on March 18 for not having the right documents, but have lived to tell a tale of cooperation during the coronavirus pandemic. Freshly out of quarantine, Anurag, a graphics designer, is now racing towards home in Bareilly. “I can’t describe what I felt when we were allowed back into our country,” he said.
A member of a crew that had gone to film the Pakistan Cricket League, Anurag along with his team had been away for 36 days, much before the fear of COVID-19 became real. “We were scheduled to come back via Dubai by air, but didn’t want to take a chance. We were terrified we would be infected at the airport. We thought it was more sensible to cross over the border by foot from Lahore,” Anurag said.
With there being a strict rule in India and Pakistan about visa holders only being allowed to leave the country using the same route as they came, authorities in India were unwilling to let them in. “We had to wait for 12 hours,” said another member of the team, Abhishek. “Indian officials told us that it wasn’t possible for us to cross over. We had to go back and fly from Dubai.”
Courtesy an appeal on Twitter that prompted the home ministry to be lenient, these 29 people were allowed back in. “We were then taken to a hospital, given a check-up and put into quarantine,”said Abhishek. Kept under strict watch—they were not even allowed to leave the room—they are in the open for the first time in months. “In Pakistan, too, all we did was go from the stadium to the hotel,” Abhishek said. “We didn't even see Lahore.”
The team has been finally allowed to leave. Armed with their medical certificate that declared them fit and curfew passes, they are all trying to get back home. They have a long journey ahead—from Punjab to Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and finally to Bihar where Abhishek lives. Each border brings its own share of negotiations and hours of wait.
This is not the only such story of some relaxation of border restrictions at Wagah-Attari, a border famous of its Beating Retreat Ceremony. Five Pakistanis who had been stranded in India on medical visas were also allowed to cross over to their home during the lockdown. Earlier, four more Pakistanis, including 12-year-old Sabeeh Sheeraz, with his parents and grandfather, crossed over on March 20.
