Facilitating visitors: Hindi markings on signs appear at Wagah border crossing

Signboards at the border crossing now have markings in Urdu, English, and Hindi.

While the relaxed visa regime may have been put on hold by India, Pakistan has stepped up measures to make the border crossing at Wagah easier by incorporating the Hindi script in them, The Hindu reported on Friday.

Both countries had approved relaxed visa regimes last year which would have allowed Pakistani businessmen to travel to up to five cities with relaxed provisions for the mandatory police reporting. Furthermore visitors over the age of 65 would be able to get a 45 day on arrival visa.

The new visa regime was suspended a day before it came into effect in January following clashes along the Line of Control.

Signs at the border checkpost have now been marked out in three languages: English, Urdu and Hindi.

Among those sign boards sporting the Hindi script include ‘Green Channel’, ‘Red Channel’, ‘Immigration’, ‘toilets’, ‘drinking water fountain’, ‘Customs’ and ‘waiting hall’.

An official told The Hindu that they had used Google Translate to translate signs into the Devanagri script.