Any Pakistani, who fails to leave India as per the deadlines set by the government, will be arrested, prosecuted and may face a jail term of up to three years or a fine of a maximum Rs 3 lakh or both.

The ‘Leave India’ notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.

The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline is April 29. The 12 categories of visas whose holders have to leave India by Sunday are — visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrim.

According to the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, which came into effect on April 4, overstaying, violating visa conditions, or trespassing in restricted areas could lead to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh.

“Whoever,-(a) being a foreigner, remains in any area in India for a period exceeding the period for which the visa was issued to him or stays in India without a valid passport or other valid travel document in contravention of provisions of Section 3 or does any act in violation of the conditions of the valid visa issued to him for his entry and stay in India or any part thereunder; “(b) contravenes any other provisions of this Act, other than sections 17 and 19, or of any rule or order made thereunder or any direction or instruction given in pursuance of this Act or such order or direction or instruction for which, no specific punishment is provided under this Act, shall be punishable with an imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to three lakh rupees or with both,” the Act says.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country.

After Shah’s telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline.

The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a barrage of retaliatory steps, including the cancellation of visas, and Islamabad hitting back with a string of tit-for-tat measures.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Smoke shrouded Iran’s largest commercial port and surrounding areas as a fire following a major blast killed 25 people and injured 750 so far. Strong winds posed hindrances to firefighting operations.

At least 19 people have been arrested in three states in the northeast over remarks on the terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives, including those of a Navy officer and an officer from the Intelligence Bureau.

The people who have been arrested in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura include an MLA, a journalist, students, a lawyer and retired teachers. Most of the arrests were from social media posts.

So far, 14 arrests have taken place in Assam alone.

The first arrest came on Thursday when Aminul Islam, an MLA from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) – an opposition party in Assam – was arrested and charged with sedition for his statement that the Pulwama attack in 2019 and Tuesday’s Pahalgam attack were “conspiracies by the government”. He was sent to police custody for four days on Friday.

The other arrests in Assam till Friday included Md Jabir Hussain from Hailakandi, Md AK Bahauddin and Md Javed Mazumder from Silchar, Md Mahahar Mia from Morigaon and Md Sahil Ali from Sivasagar. Md Musta Ahmed alias Sahel from Karimganj was arrested on Friday night for posting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ on Facebook.

Among them, Hussain is a journalist, Bahauddin is a computer science student at the Assam University in Silchar and Mazumder is a lawyer.

On Saturday, the police arrested 25-year-old Md Jarif Ali and Anil Bania, the district secretary of a student body, Satra Mukti Sangram Parishad, from Biswanath. Sumon Mazumdar alias Bulbul Alom Mazumdar was arrested in Hailakandi, Mashud Azhar in Nagaon and another person was arrested from Hajo near Guwahati – all for making “anti-India comments” online.

The Cachar district police also arrested two more individuals for posting “content supporting Pakistan” on social media.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “If required, we will impose provisions of the National Security Act on them. We are examining all social media posts, and action will be taken against those who, we feel, are anti-national… There are no similarities between Bharat and Pakistan. The two countries are enemy nations and we must remain that way.”

Tripura

In Tripura, there have been four arrests so far, including those of two retired teachers.

Jawhar Debnath, a retired teacher and one Kuldip Mandal were arrested for making “anti-national comments online” in the context of the Pahalgam terror attack in Dhalai district. Another retired teacher, Sajal Chakraborty, was arrested from Dharmanagar of North Tripura district and Jahirul Islam was taken into custody from Sonamura in Sepahijala district.

Meghalaya

In Meghalaya, a 30-year-old man named Simon Shylla was arrested on Friday from the East Khasi Hills district after he posted an “anti-national comment” on a video telecast by a news channel from Guwahati.