Pakistan and India are finally getting down to signing that bit of paper which will make it easier for visitors from either side to cross into each other’s countries. The more relaxed visa regime had been expected in May, when the foreign secretaries of the two countries had reached an agreement on it. However, a spanner in the works was rather unexpectedly thrown in by interior minister Rehman Malik, who stated at the time that he sought a more ‘political’ dimension to the visa deal. Malik cited the need for ‘internal’ agreements, leaving both the Indians and all onlookers rather befuddled.
However, after the delay of some three months, the deal is now to be signed, during the visit by Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna to Islamabad next week. Ahead of his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar the foreign secretaries of the two countries will be meeting to lay down the groundwork for the ministerial talks. The new visa regime will include group visas for tourists for the first time, visas on arrival for senior citizens and children and multiple entry visas for businessmen. This is a big step forward. We must also hope that the deal will help save the people wishing to travel across the border from long hours of waiting outside high commissions and the complex processes involved in the submission of documents.
Easing cross-border entry restrictions is crucial for many reasons. It enables the person-to-person contact vital for developing a better understanding and the wiping away of myths and prejudices. We are badly in need of this. Ideally, the relaxed visa set-up should further move forward step by step and be combined with other measures aimed at removing bias in both countries. At present, these issues influence mindsets and determine the problems, which in many ways hamper the building of a genuinely friendly relationship. This is what both countries must strive towards, both for the sake of the region as a whole, and the people of both nations, who would benefit greatly from more spent on development rather than defence. This, then, should be the prime consideration as talks continue at various levels.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (17)
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The indians need to chill out here... the only people this visa will affect are business people who will go to India on a recommendation from an Indian business man, and older people. The majority of the population is not covered in this visa regime. Its hardly a major relaxation of visa rules!
From the Indian side there are many Sikh yatrees that come in their thousands every year to do Gurdham yatra, maybe this visa will allow more of them to come over. But again generally its more business people related and it will still be difficult for average Indian to come over here.
Regional cooperation/peace/trade is writing of the wall and a natural conclusion. Its better we understand sooner than later. Lets hope for a strong, peaceful and economically vibrant SAARC.
@P: It is difficult - if not impossible - for us as pundits to predict the precise outcome of this soon-to-be lightened visa regime. That was perhaps a point I did not make clear. All one can say for certain is that travel will increase on average, affecting both our nations through heightened informational transfer. There are many Pakistani's who have no knowledge of India - it's people and it's culture. Indeed, this is also true for the vast majority of Indians with respect to Pakistan. Let's leave terms such as "deception" out of it, let's just call it "misinformation", propagated through a lack of interaction.
@Dr V. C. Bhutani: If the past has proved anything it is that terrorists looking to destabilise our mutual relationship do not need visas or any special access privileges to achieve that which they wish to. Let us just hope that through heightened interaction extremism on either side begins to lose favour. Let us hope that the relationship holds strong through all storms to be weathered. Scepticism and fear, while understandable, will doom all efforts being made today.
Now that the game of "blind mans bluff" has been played out there is no harm in trying a different tack. Good Luck to the new visa regime !
Everybody knows that terrorists do not need visa and airline tickets."" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ David Headely travelled multiple times to India on a valid visa and an air ticket.!
@Roger:
We balk at a liberalized visa regime because your re-education will come at our expense. Can you guarantee that none of the visa-seekers will be Islamist mischief makers ?
Good for both nation.
Two nation theory and visa are oxymoron. People want two nation theory without visa. Visa will disappear if you drop the two nation.
If ET means its words, these are welcome ideas. The operative part is that good relations between countries, as between individuals, derive from good behaviour on both sides. There are several points in the editorial which lend themselves to criticism, e.g., the Pakistan Interior Minister who flies off at a tangent at the slightest pretext and often without pretext. If men like him remain in decision-making places in Pakistan, there is no doubt that throwing spanner into the works shall become the norm. Even then we hope for the best. As an Indian citizen I cannot get rid of the fear of the propensity of some in Pakistan to go in for short cuts like use of terror – nothing else seemed to work against India. Unfortunately, terrorist activity hardens attitudes and makes peace hard to achieve. We are accustomed to the spectacle that whenever Pakistan-India relations show signs of lifting up, some terrorist outfits in Pakistan launch terrorist acts in India, making nonsense of all efforts for improvement of relations and taking things back to square one. My fear is that now that a visa agreement is about to be signed, we should look out for enhanced terrorist activity in India. If anything of that kind happens, the visa agreement shall not be worth the paper on which it will be written. We live in the hope that better counsels may prevail on both sides. V. C. Bhutani, Delhi, India, 2 Sep 2012, 0219 IST
@Roger: Its kinda ironical that, though it seams from the outset that Pakistan is demanding and getting all the concessions, But on reading the fine print, it is India which benefits largely. I suspect there would be very few people in India who would want to visit Pakistan, may be those who have relatives there. But otherwise the traffic flow would be one way. They would get to know how they have been deceived by their govts and mullahs viz a viz India. Yes eventually at least to certain extent the hatred would come down. Rgds P
@Ashvinn: This author hints at the proposition that this "anti India at [our] foundation" feeling, of which you talk, would begin to unravel and fade over time through a bilateral exchange of our cultures at all levels. Indeed, this Anti-Pakistani sentiment which people such as yourself have is counter productive and will almost certainly propagate falsities about one another. Don't you want peace?
A very balanced editorial by ET editor and thanks for that. As far as hatred among the citizens is concerned it is all due to misinformation by vested interests. The cure for hatred and ignorance is education and knowledge. The Pakistanis who hate India most are ones who never visited India. I am sure it must be true for the same from Indian side. We cannot continue to live in isolation and a cocoon forever. Everybody knows that terrorists do not need visa and airline tickets. We have practiced restrictions and failed for too long. Let us try something different for a change. Senior citizens do not commit acts of terrorism and should be allowed to visit their former homes and relatives. In addition the age of senior citizens must be 60 years which is pretty fair in both India and Pakistan. Older people would not be able to enjoy and travel on their own and feel safe. I am looking forward to visiting Indian relatives again and again. Let us hope common sense prevails.
I think Mr Kasab can finally see his family in prison now.