WASHINGTON DC: Pervez Hoodbhoy’s article of October 27 titled “Deepening the Pakistan-India divide” is very timely and relevant to the issue at hand because it relates to perhaps the most important thing that can narrow the gap between the two neighbours, i.e. people-to-people exchanges.
The example cited by the writer of harassment at the hands of the Pakistani intelligence is as unsurprising as it is deplorable. The Indian authorities, too, are suffering from an almost irreversible paranoia in granting visas to any applicant with the slightest trace of Pakistani DNA. India’s concerns for its security interests, especially after the Mumbai attack and the David Headley (aka Dawood Gilani) case, are quite valid.
It will bode ill for the two countries if they continue to deny their respective citizens the opportunity to meet each other. They will do well to also remind themselves that terrorists do not seek visas before they embark on their cross-border expeditions.
Noor Nabi
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2011.
