NEW DELHI, 19 September 2004 — Just a few days ahead of the crucial meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, India yesterday announced several measures to grant visas more easily to Pakistani professionals.
India announced yesterday it will grant visas more easily to Pakistani journalists, doctors, academics and elderly people in the latest peace move between the rival neighbors.
“These are unilateral measures taken by the government of India to promote people-to-people contacts with Pakistan. Naturally, we hope that the government of Pakistan would also be able to take similar measures,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters yesterday. The new measures would be “immediately implemented.”
The announcement comes less than two weeks after the rival neighbors agreed to allow each other’s citizens to travel between the two countries as tourists.
Musharraf and Manmohan are expected to give a push to the peace dialogue launched by the two countries in January.
Pakistani doctors, if accompanying patients for treatment in Indian hospitals, can be issued visas in Pakistan without the mandatory clearance from New Delhi, Sarna said.
Pakistani journalists with three years accreditation with the government and working for national or international media of repute could be issued multiple entry visas to India, he said.
Academicians and professors, vice chancellors and those coming to India at the invitation of reputed universities and institutions also can get multiple entry visas without prior approval from the Indian Home Ministry. The Pakistani professionals will be exempted from having to report to police during their stay in India, Sarna said.
All Pakistani nationals older than 65 years can now also get visas with exemption from police reporting in India, he said.
Indians and Pakistanis wishing to visit the other country, including the thousands cut off from relatives when the subcontinent was divided in 1947, usually endure lengthy red tape for visas and are kept under close surveillance during their stays.
With the exception of correspondents from leading national news organizations, Indian and Pakistani journalists are generally granted visas only to cover specific events such as bilateral meetings.
Visa regulations have steadily relaxed since Pakistan and India launched a cautious diplomatic drive last year to repair relations after a near-war over divided Kashmir.
Thousands of Indians entered Pakistan this year to watch a tour of the Indian cricket team, with many of the fans raving at the hospitality they encountered.
Earlier, this month, when Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri was in Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh, both the leaders had hinted at their moving toward liberalization of the visa regime for journalists.
US Lifts Exports Controls on Equipment for Nuke Facilities
Meanwhile, the United States in a significant move on Friday agreed to lift export controls on equipment for nuclear facilities in India after New Delhi assured it would address American non-proliferation concerns.
US export licensing policies will also be eased to expand bilateral cooperation in commercial space programs, officials said after talks in Washington between Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman.
A joint statement described the agreement, ahead of talks between Manmohan and US President George W. Bush on Tuesday, as “major progress.”
