179 stranded Pakistanis return home via Wagah.

LAHORE -- A total of 179 Pakistanis stranded in India due to the Covid-19 lockdown reached the country via Wagah border crossing on Wednesday.

The Indian Border Security Force (BSF) handed over the Pakistani nationals to officials of the Pakistan Rangers (Punjab).

The India-Pakistan border was sealed due to the lockdown following the coronavirus pandemic.

Officials of the Pakistan High Commission (HC), Punjab Health Department and the Lahore City District Government were present at the Wagah border to receive these Pakistanis.

The Pakistan HC in Delhi took up the matter of repatriation of these people with the Indian government, a senior official told Dawn.

He said that most of the Pakistanis had been stranded in Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Some of these Pakistanis went to India to see their relatives, some of them for medical treatment and some others for attending religious ceremonies.

A family comprising a man, his wife and their daughter who reached India on Feb 26 on a 45-day visit told journalists on return from India that...