No missing Pakistanis on list of those set to leave: CM

MUMBAI: There are no Pakistanis unaccounted for, on the list of short-term visa holders who have been ordered to leave in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday. His statement comes a day after deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde said there were 107 unaccounted for.

On Monday, Fadnavis’s home department sought to clear up any confusion. According to data from the department, all but 14 of the 55 Pakistanis here on short-term visas have exited the state in accordance with the recent central government directive.

The Maharashtra government has tracked down the 14 that remain. Some are here on medical visas. “The citizens living on short term visas were asked to leave the state by Sunday. The ones on medical visas will have to exit by Tuesday,” an official from the home department stated.

Data from the department, meanwhile, clarified that there are 5,023 Pakistanis living in various parts of the state (excluding Mumbai), with 2,740 here on long-term visas and 2,088 here on extensions to long-term visas. Another 34 have overstayed long-term visas and are living here illegally, with three of these Pakistanis currently in prison, the data noted.

Another 106, from among those in the state on long-term visas, are untraceable or have gone underground. (This is the figure quoted by Shinde on Sunday, as 107)

Included in the total of 5,023 are the 55 on short-term visas, all of whom have been accounted for, the home department data shows.

Every Pakistani who meets the criteria for mandatory exit is being tracked and will have to follow the directive, Fadnavis added on Monday.

There is no overlap between the Pakistanis on short-term visas required to leave, the state stressed, and the 106 here on long-term visas who are currently untraceable, perhaps because of a change in address or a move between districts in the state. “Sometimes ministers react based on briefings given to them (by their offices),” Fadnavis noted, in a reference to Shinde’s comment.

While data for Mumbai did not form part of the list compiled by the home department, the Mumbai police have said there were 17 Pakistanis in the city on short-term visas, all of whom have been sent back, in accordance with the recent central government directive.