As many as 300 Indian nationals, stuck in Pakistan due to the coronavirus pandemic, are going to come back home. The Indian government has given permission for them to return, Hindustan Times’ Hindi language publication Hindustan reported.

According to reports in the Pakistan media, quoted by Hindustan, these people will cross into India through the Attari-Wagah border crossing on Saturday, media reports further said.

Among this group of people are 80 students from Jammu and Kashmir who have been studying in Lahore. The group also includes 10 Indian nationals in Islamabad and 12 in Nankana Sahib who went to meet their relatives and got stuck there due to global travel restrictions in the wake of Covid-19. About 200 Indian nationals are living in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan’s Sindh province, Hindustan reported.

They were asked to sign an affidavit after which they got the permission to return. Pakistan has made all the arrangements to take the group to Wagah border – they will be brought there by Friday night and handed over to Indian authorities on Saturday.

One hundred seventy six Pakistani nationals stuck in India due to the lockdown returned to Pakistan on Wednesday through the Attari-Wagah border crossing. They were stranded in India for the last two months. Most of these people came to India on pilgrimage.

The Pakistani Rangers received them from the Border Security Force (BSF).

“Upon their arrival, the Pakistani citizens including women and children were screened and transferred to quarantine centres in Lahore where they will stay for 72 hours,” Mohammad Younis of Edhi Foundation told news agency PTI.

They were stuck in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi due to the extended lockdown and the closure of the Attari-Wagah border following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far, 400 Pakistani nationals have returned to their home country from India since March 20, 2020.