How to improve people-to-people relations with India
By Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
At a recent meeting held in New Delhi the interior secretaries of India and Pakistan decided to form a group to recommend simplification of visa procedures.
This is a great opportunity for the advocates of better people-to-people relations with India to improve relations between both countries. The group should be urged to suggest maximum relaxation in visas in both countries.
I suggest the following minimum recommendations:
a) The foreign ministers of both countries signed an agreement during their meeting in Islamabad in 2004, providing that citizens over 65 years would not require visa to visit the other country. The interior ministries of both countries only have to issue notifications for the implementation of the agreement. Subsequently, the age limit for visa-free travel may be reduced annually by two years, ultimately to 50 years.
b) As there is no agreement on opening consulates, each country may post visa officers in cities with substantial number of applicants. In Pakistan, the cities may include Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore, while Indian cities may be at least Amritsar, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Bombay and Hyderabad. Visa officers will scrutinise applications, interview applicants and refer cases to their embassy whenever necessary.
c) Police reporting should be abolished. The British introduced this humiliating process in South Asia to monitor visitors from enemy states (Russia, Germany, Japan, etc.). Until better sense prevails to abolish the procedure, it may be made easier by requiring reporting on arrival and departure only at police posts at airports, railway stations and main bus stands. A visitor may be given a card, similar to the immigration card given to passengers in planes before arrival at an international airport. He may hand over the filled-in card to the police post and move on.
After the proposed steps have been taken, both countries may introduce further relaxations.
The writer is author of "Ghurbat kaise mit sakti hai" (Classic, Lahore)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
By Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
At a recent meeting held in New Delhi the interior secretaries of India and Pakistan decided to form a group to recommend simplification of visa procedures.
This is a great opportunity for the advocates of better people-to-people relations with India to improve relations between both countries. The group should be urged to suggest maximum relaxation in visas in both countries.
I suggest the following minimum recommendations:
a) The foreign ministers of both countries signed an agreement during their meeting in Islamabad in 2004, providing that citizens over 65 years would not require visa to visit the other country. The interior ministries of both countries only have to issue notifications for the implementation of the agreement. Subsequently, the age limit for visa-free travel may be reduced annually by two years, ultimately to 50 years.
b) As there is no agreement on opening consulates, each country may post visa officers in cities with substantial number of applicants. In Pakistan, the cities may include Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore, while Indian cities may be at least Amritsar, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Bombay and Hyderabad. Visa officers will scrutinise applications, interview applicants and refer cases to their embassy whenever necessary.
c) Police reporting should be abolished. The British introduced this humiliating process in South Asia to monitor visitors from enemy states (Russia, Germany, Japan, etc.). Until better sense prevails to abolish the procedure, it may be made easier by requiring reporting on arrival and departure only at police posts at airports, railway stations and main bus stands. A visitor may be given a card, similar to the immigration card given to passengers in planes before arrival at an international airport. He may hand over the filled-in card to the police post and move on.
After the proposed steps have been taken, both countries may introduce further relaxations.
The writer is author of "Ghurbat kaise mit sakti hai" (Classic, Lahore)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Mumbai to Lahore and back
Shiraz Hassan and Chintan Girish Modi 'met' on Twitter,
following an article Chintan had written about his visit to Lahore. With a shared passion for music, travel an .....more
Shiraz Hassan and Chintan Girish Modi 'met' on Twitter, following an article Chintan had written about his visit to Lahore. With a shared passion for music, travel an .....more
Cartesian irrelevancies
I am an Indian citizen, born on Pakistan's National Day, March 23rd, 1962, in New Delhi, in a .....more
Rajiv Ramanujam on why people should meet and travel
I am an Indian citizen, born on Pakistan's National Day, March 23rd, 1962, in New Delhi, in a .....more
Bangalore's Karachi brides
By Shazman Shariff
.....more
There are many of us here, women from Karachi whom fate brought to Bangalore after marriage...
By Shazman Shariff
.....more
BRIEFS
A delegation of Pakistan Rangers, headed by Director General Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, comprising
members of the Pakistan Rangers .....more
Border cooperation
A delegation of Pakistan Rangers, headed by Director General Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, comprising
members of the Pakistan Rangers .....more
In humanity's name
Appeals for India, Pakistan prisoners
Pakistani citizen Syed Mohammad Taqi Naqvi, lodged in Jodhpur prison in India, completed his prison sentence two mont .....more
Dosti ka Paigham
The Jawadekar family from Maharashtra - Aalaap, Aarohee, Y .....more
A family from Maharashtra reaches out to the people of Pakistan with a message of friendship
The Jawadekar family from Maharashtra - Aalaap, Aarohee, Y .....more
Page 44 of 177
Special Editions
more editions
The News on Sunday Special Report: India Pakistan prisoners
We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
Blog
more
For the past 2 years the Jang Group and Geo have been working on a project of great national interest; one that we hope will help usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the country and indeed, in the region. And one that hopefully all Pakistanis can be proud of.
The Jang Group has entered into an agreement with the Times of India Group, the largest media group of India, to campaign for peace betw
Global Media
Comments