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An intelligence assessment note accessed by CNN-News18 reveals that between October 15 and 30, 2025, at least 148 Indian citizens were turned back at the Wagah border.
Indian Sikh pilgrims enter Pakistan through the Wagah border crossing point to participate in celebrations marking the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, at Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib, near Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday. (AP)
Pakistan has denied entry to more than 140 Indian pilgrims despite valid visas and prior government clearances last month. An intelligence assessment note accessed by CNN-News18 reveals that between October 15 and 30, 2025, at least 148 Indian citizens — scheduled to visit Nankana Sahib, Kartarpur, and Panja Sahib — were turned back at the Wagah border after prolonged detentions and arbitrary questioning by Pakistani immigration authorities.
The assessment suggests that the move was not administrative confusion, as portrayed by Pakistani media outlets like Geo News and ARY Digital, but part of a deliberately coordinated strategy influenced by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI. Intelligence sources have linked the denials to a wider psychological operation designed to provoke resentment among Indian Sikh communities and to deflect accountability on to New Delhi.
According to the report, the ISI’s Media Monitoring Cell in Rawalpindi activated a network of over 300 proxy social-media accounts and religious influencers across X and Facebook soon after the denial episode began. These accounts amplified false claims that India had abandoned its own pilgrims, framing it as “administrative chaos” within Indian systems. Popular hashtags in both Urdu and English accused New Delhi of suppressing minority rights while praising Islamabad for “keeping its doors open.”
The posts were traced to digital ecosystems previously involved in Ghazwa-e-Hind and Khalistan revival propaganda, indicating a recurrent pattern seen during similar visa denial controversies in April 2024 and November 2023. The coordinated messaging effort saw a 400 per cent surge in such posts between October 28 and November 2, with synchronised retweets and shares across Pakistan, the Gulf region, and diaspora-linked handles.
Diplomatic sources in Islamabad told News18 that Indian pilgrims were made to wait for over 10 hours at the Wagah border before being sent back without any written explanation, despite clearances from Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs. The decision, they said, followed direct interference from the ISI, overriding ministerial approvals.
Officials in New Delhi see the episode as part of a larger information and perception warfare effort aimed at eroding trust between Sikh pilgrims and Indian authorities during a sensitive religious occasion. “The timing, the narrative, and the amplification were too precise to be coincidental,” sources said.
The orchestrated denial and its accompanying online disinformation campaign mark yet another flashpoint in India–Pakistan relations, reflecting how religious diplomacy and social media influence operations are being weaponised to deepen divisions — this time, by using faith and faith-based travel as geopolitical leverage.
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
November 05, 2025, 5:12 PM IST
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