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Pakistan, India begin talks on ‘liberal’ visa regime
Talks aim at finalising drafts on easing the visa policy and providing facilities to citizens of both...
These talks aim at finalising drafts on easing the visa policy and providing facilities to the citizens of both countries
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Secretary, Khwaja Siddique Akbar, and his Indian counterpart, Home Secretary RK Singh, met in Islamabad today to finalise major changes in their decades-old existing strict bilateral ‘visa regime, over a two-day period.
These talks aim at finalising drafts on easing the visa policy and providing facilities to the citizens of both countries. A ‘liberal’ visa policy will be set for senior citizens and traders in particular.
Amongst the issues being discussed policies on immigration, barter trade and exchange of prisoners will also be finalised.
The Indian home secretary expressed dissatisfaction over Pakistan’s investigation into the 2008 Mumbai attacks and said that many of those involved in the incident have not been brought to courts yet.
He added that both the countries should play their roles in ensuring peace in the region.
On the second day of negotiations, a joint statement will be issued.
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Sanity prevailing- Good sight!
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Hopefully this Visa will be used only by civilians and people like Kasab won’t arrive in India with a valid Visa!!!
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In times such as these, not a wise move India. Let us defer this decision for a couple of years.
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Absurd ! An invitation to the non-state actors to do their thing.
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no visa, no restriction , like Europe ,work study live any where
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I am getting a bit worried regarding the misuse by Pakistan of this friendly gesture by India.
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Google refused the job to me because I could not travel to Banlore India (Google’s major development hub these days). Relaxation of Visa regime is good for both countries.
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Gr8
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this gonna be a good start the end..
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Now the non-state actors can come through the front door.
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A good move by both countries to ease out the relations and to minimise the distrust. But I am worried that non state actors like Kashmit Singh and other under cover terrorist from India can misuse this facility and then the gap between both countries can widen.
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and I am afraid of the misuse by India of this friendly gesture by PAKISTAN..
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Good for old citizens who want to meet their relatives.
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I am getting a bit worried by the number of Pakistan-haters from India regarding the misuse of this friendly website in Pakistan.
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Good to see sanity prevailing at the end. Why indian friends are taking it so negatively. A lot of Pakistanis know about India through their movies whereas Indian know very little about Pakistan. Fear of unknown seems to work here, i guess.
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Wrong priorities bye Indian government. In other times all these things are fine but at present, instead of wasting time and energy on such things Indian government should focus on bringing back and rehabilitating non-Muslims from Pakistan into India. This needs to be done on urgent basis since no one can predict what is going to happen in Pakistan in coming decade.
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@Logic Europe..
Its good for europe as they have law and order, functioning system. Liberal visa is good for pakistan, but let me know what you can offer to India?
@AJ
That’s the acheivement of my Bharath. You can’t imagine software profession without indian connection. Once again, liberal visa regime is good for pakistan and not for India Recommend
Indians have always been gutless wimps and will always remain so.
The day India, my country, makes it easier for Pakistanis to travel to India….that will be my last day in this idiotic country. I will go back to US as I don’t have death wish. I will renounce my Indian passport as well.
I wish my fellow Indians good luck !!
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No one is interested in visting pak. Indian goverment should not give any concession to pak. Remember this is not Europe. We live in difficult neighbourhood. God bless India.
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please also facilitate Indian visas for Non Pakistani passport holders of Pakistani descent, professionals and people over age fifty.Thank you.
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@Indian: brother they never come with a valid visa. They always slip in from here and there. Only genuine business people and tourist suffer from this.
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@Abbas: Brother ‘genuine business people’ trading in what ? Heroin from Afghanistan, IED’s from Waziristan, suicide bombers from madrasas and ephedrine ??
ummm no thanks, we will pass.Recommend
A Very welcome move. I’m surprise by some comments from my Indian brothers about this liberal policy being misused. I would like to remind them that people like Kassab didn’t need any visa to enter in India. It is not advisable to disturb the peace loving citizens of both sides to visit their relatives and their religious sites just to avoid people like Kassab entering India illegally.
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Liberal visa? So now they’ll be issuing visas based on ideologies! will they practice the same doctrine for feeding the poor? Who ever’s a liberal poor will be fed, the rest may rot
Aman K tamasha!
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Congratulations this agreement is not going to be signed in this meeting because:
Interior minister Rehman Malik‘s insistence that Chidambaram and he should jointly sign the agreement may delay the implementation.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2148361/Home-minister-Chidambarams-snub-Pakistan-cloud-talks.html#ixzz1vnmqTAxV
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iwe are interested to see tourist sites in india!the places where my ancestors belong!!it would definitely be a good idea
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<p>Its great development.sadly most of my countryment don’t like improved relations with Pakistan….and still we call ourselves a torch bearers of peace.i feel ashamed.</p>Recommend
cant wait to travel goa :)
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the sikhs who come every year to pakistan in thousands are treated well by pakistan…why not the same treatment for Pakistanis who want to visit sacred sites in India like Ajmer, or ancestoral places ….
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On one hand we are shouting slogans of Aman ki Asha and then we have Indian trolls making hateful comments on it. It is true we can never be friends.. with friends like these who needs enemies.
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‘Aman ki asha’ should have been called as ‘Chayn ki asha’. It is too much to expect ‘Aman’ but atleast can we have some ‘chayn’ – some silence between the two adversaries. That will be enough.
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