Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik signed a historic document on September 8 on the bilateral visa regime that can transform South Asia. Eight different categories have been named for a new visa regulation, including six-month visas to visit five cities for tourists without the condition of invitation and police reporting, for businessmen of two categories with several years of multiple entry facility, and at-the-border visas for senior citizens above the age of 65, etc.
The most stubborn roadblock to the breakthrough was experienced from the Pakistan military, which has acted as an arbiter of all civilian policy towards India. Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is to be praised for accepting the positions taken by two mainstream parties — the PPP and the PML-N — over the past decades towards India. The new visa regime will knock off the most insuperable hurdle in the way of resolving Indo-Pakistan bilateral disputes.
Manmohan Singh’s government in New Delhi has also taken some steps that no past government had dared to take. It has chosen to set aside its preconditions relating to terrorism that it attached to any initiative at normalisation. New Delhi has decided to forget the accusations by our interior minister and the various TV channels about how India was paying the Taliban to kill innocent Pakistanis and enabling the Baloch rebels with dollars to launch attacks in Balochistan. There was a time not long ago when Mr Krishna used to come to Islamabad asking for proof which was never forthcoming. India still wants Pakistan to do something about the elements that are responsible for the 2008 Mumbai massacre and has swallowed the acceptance of some proxy warriors in Pakistan that the world accuses of cross-border terrorism.
Mr Krishna has emerged as a most effective communicator during his visit, insisting that his government wanted a stable Pakistan. The government has given him extraordinary protocol, getting him to meet the president and the prime minister before his meeting with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. What he and his Pakistani counterpart have agreed upon will meet the approval of the main opposition party in parliament, the PML-N. Its leader, Mr Nawaz Sharif, has been announcing — in the face of disagreement from his conservative vote bank — that he would abolish a visa requirement with India after coming to power. He actually went further than anyone in Pakistan in consigning the perennial bilateral disputes to the post-normalisation era when he suggested that Pakistan should withdraw from Siachen unilaterally.
Once enforced, the new visa protocol will be transformational. Given the rise in India of an opulent middle class keen to travel as tourists, Pakistan will have to go on overdrive to build new facilities to cater to the new tourism despite its terrorism-marred conditions. New hotels and roads will have to be built for people coming by road, new border check posts in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh will have to be constructed to receive them. Pakistan will now find it easy to agree to a two-way transit trade route between Afghanistan and India, thus averting the losses it was sure to sustain from the opening of an alternative route through the newly-built Iranian port of Chabahar. The route that joins India and Afghanistan will ultimately be the regional commercial highway to Central Asia. One can hope that the project of the Iranian gas pipeline will be favourably affected by Indo-Pakistan normalisation.
The normalisation-first approach — favoured by the world but not by Pakistan — is going to facilitate the final resolution of bilateral disputes: Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage and other water issues, and terrorism, etc. Above all, Pakistan, once assured of peace on its eastern border, will be better able to confront al Qaeda and its ancillary terrorists like the Taliban, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jandullah without relying on the subterfuge of blaming India. Pakistan will cease to be the national security state preying on its own people and will be better able to align its national economy with the well-being of its people.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2012.
COMMENTS (24)
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@Arjun
That is what i am saying. I think you just displayed your lack of comprehension skills. I am tring t say that it is indeed foolish at this point to say that Pakistanis and Indians are similar and to emphasize on this point, i tried to define India by which India and Pakistan can be differentiated. The concept of India is an amalgamation of thousands of narratives and not one( like Pakistan). India's essence is inclusive whereas Pakistan's is divisive. It is in this context of an understanding of modern day India that i differed with Indian Catholic. Comparing a South Indian with Sri lankans s already ridicuous since they share no simlarities given the fact tha a mojority of Sri Lanka is Sinhalese and Buddhist unlike South India which has vared languages and religions. Yes, the Tamils are there, bu using them to compare South Indians with Srilankans is as ridiculous as using Pakistan's christians and comparin them with Vatican City and saying that there is a similarity. Understood? Maldives too is almost entirel Muslim an have a cmpletely different narrative compared to any Indian State. Besides, the discussion here was about ideological similarities not cultural ones(even in which case this comparison is wrong). If it is a question of cultural similarities the Pakistanis indeed hare a deep bond with India since a majority of India's population( North) speak their language and have a culture that is very similar to Paistan's. The generic term India means an amalgamation and not any one narrative in particular. THAT is why the comparison was frivolous. Next time think before you take the arrogant moral high ground.
@Ayush: It just shows your lack of knowledge. SouthIndians have far more similarities/culture with Srilankans than North Indians but none of them consider that more important than their country India. It is foolish to say in 2012 that Pakistanis are similar to india when for 40 years of islamic fundamentalism has changed the outlook of Pakistanis. Even culturally Pakistanis may find some resemblance in Punjab and UP but to generalise a gaint Indian nation is foolish. Indian Catholic is right. Pakistanis -many being being narrow minded in religion think that all of India is like Pakistan in culture which is false. The Idea of nation is greater than idea of culture or relgion which will be very very difficult to understand for slaves of any religion.
@Ayush Indian Catholic is saying that South Indians may find more similarities with Srilanka than Pakistan.He didn't say South Indians have more similarities with Srilanka than India.
@Indian Catholic
Please tell me how you made these conclusions? I am interested in knowing how a South Indian has more in common with Sri-Lanka than India. How a person from Kerala has more in common with the Maldives. I appreciate your sentiment, that India is extremely diverse, but all these diversities make India. They are a part of her, an integral part. So they all make up the idea of India. Finally, what is India if not a summation of all her regional ideas and identities? India has a million narratives not one comparing with which you can say that a South Indian ha more in common with Sri Lanka. At the end of it all. this just becomes a frivolous statement.
@John B: "@KDP: Can you please tell how the American citizen with US passport is known to Indians as people of PAK origin in their decision to reject VISA application? " Actually, John B., KDP is right. India will ask you about the national origin of your parents. And, with good reason. If naturalized American citizens from Islamic countries can cause havoc to America, there is even more reason to expect such behaviour towards India. Recent example: Contribution of Hadley (American passport carrying citizen) to Mumbai massacre. His father was a Pakistani.
@KDP: Can you please tell how the American citizen with US passport is known to Indians as people of PAK origin in their decision to reject VISA application?
Read the news again. PAK military is the stumbling block in allowing the visa to India for PAK citizens.
I do not want to spoil the party, but PAK visa in a passport will likely raise eyebrows for quite sometime.
India has put its best foot forward and ball is now in the Pakistan's court.
@Adil Bashir: "there is nothing more enthralling than to see a day where indians and pakistanis, wud majorly have a favourable view of each other…there is no other country that is more indian than pakistan, and there is no other country which is more pakistani than india.."
I certainly support your sentiment for peace with honour between the 2 countries. There are also cultural similarities between North Indians and Pakistanis from Punjab and Sind. But when it comes to the 2 countries they have chosen to walk in 2 completely different directions and so the statement "there is no other country that is more indian than pakistan, and there is no other country which is more pakistani than india" does not resonate. India is a secular democracy which believes in the philosophy unity in diversity. Pakistan is an Islamic country which has not yet decided whether it would like to be a democracy or ruled by an army/judicial dictator or a be a Caliphate, which discriminates against minorities institutionally and where one census after another the people not practicing the dominant religion keep dropping and people think this is a good thing.
No Sir. We are not the same. And I think that is Okay as long as we do not try to impose our way on the other.
@Adil Bashir: {there is no other country that is more indian than pakistan, and there is no other country which is more pakistani than india.}
Well said. Its really a tragedy of monumental proportional that people so similar are living so far apart.
@Adil Bashir: there is no other country that is more indian than pakistan. . Appreciate your sentiment. But wish to let you know that Indians from West Bengal, Assam, Orissa may feel more in common with Bangladesh. Indians from Kerala may find more in common with Maldives. Indians from Tamil Nadu, Kerala (again),Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh may find more in common with Sri Lanka, and so on... . @mukhtar: There was never any other result to hope for to begin with.
65 years of negotiataions the end result is zero.What India wanted got it without resolving major issues of Pakistan. These talks are just a hoax and nothing else
it's a matter of time before pakistani-backed elements attack Indians.
A great road map is indicated in this well thought of editorial. It paints a future brimming with hope and peace. Hope leaders have the courage to walk on this road.
there is nothing more enthralling than to see a day where indians and pakistanis, wud majorly have a favourable view of each other...there is no other country that is more indian than pakistan, and there is no other country which is more pakistani than india..
@Ahmad Shah: What you say is very true my friend. Vajpayee really tried to use lateral thinking to solve an intractable problem. That his friendly hand extended was derailed by the Kargill misadventure must be understood in the context of vested interests breeding hatred and profiting from War. The current crop of leaders are pygmies in comparison.
Let us hope that this is the beginning of a new era of living like good neighbors. But I would not bet that things can get worse again. But the direction is the right one. Pakistan needs friends, as India, as an enemy can do more harm to Pakistan, as it is weak and democratic system is just beginning. Then we have the terrorists who seem to be gaining more support. This can damage Pakistan. That it’s a case of Frankensteins monster devouring its creator should be a part of the contemporary Pakistani narrative.
"Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is to be praised " +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sounds like the statutory warning on cigarette packing.
Let us hope it is a durable bridge between the two neighbors and no power drunk can destroy it with a new adventure. Let us build peace brick by brick and lead the region to prosperity finally!
I wonder if the same regulations will apply to American Citizen of Pakistani Origin. At present It is almost impossible for American Citizen (Born in Pakistan) to get Visa to visit India.
I think gp is right. Despite the fact that Gen PM stabbed ABV in the back, he still went to Kashmir and extended his famous hand of friendship to us. Any Indo-Pak peace process wil have ABV's name written on top.Salaam Vajpayee
Common sense says that TALK TALK is better than WAR WAR, if that means ignoring the fundamentalists and militants in both India and Pakistan then so be it. It is in the interest of both India and Pakistan to work together and ignore those people who do not like Indo-Pak friendship. Just look at Europe and see what can be achieved by working together in spite of Hitler's war. But Pakistan must stop encouraging any cross border terrorism and work for trade and friendship.
"Manmohan Singh’s government in New Delhi has also taken some steps that no past government had dared to take. It has chosen to set aside its preconditions relating to terrorism that it attached to any initiative at normalisation"
Vajpayee, despite Kargill was willing to work with Musharaf at a time that cross border terrorism had OFFICIAL support from Pakistani government. Not sure what the basis of the above statement is.