India allows 29 residents to cross Attari check post

 A group of 29 Indians, who were associated with the Pakistan Super League and were stuck at the Attari-Wagha joint check post in Punjab for over eight hours over technical immigration issues, were finally allowed to enter India early Thursday, officials said.

They all were quarantined in a government hospital in Amritsar, some 250 km from the state capital, as a precaution to prevent the spread of coronavirus epidemic, state health officials said.

The origin of the stranded Indians, who were in Pakistan for a month, are still not known, an official told IANS.

With the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs, they were allowed to cross the Wagha check post, which has been temporarily closed for the foreigners and the trade, towards India at 2 in the morning.

Officials told IANS that they reached Pakistan via Dubai and they were advised by Indian immigration authorities at Attari, some 30 km from Amritsar, to follow the same travel route on their journey back home.

One of the stranded Indian tweeted they "are stuck at the Wagha border, coming from Lahore not allowed to cross emigration. We are told to go back and take flight from Dubai."

The Pakistan Cricket Board has cut short the league in wake of the coronavirus epidemic.

The movement of foreigners and commodities from Pakistan at the joint check post (JCP) at Attari was suspended indefinitely March 13 as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

Also, commodities arriving from Afghanistan via Pakistan would also not be allowed to enter India through Attari. IANS