Train To/From Pakistan

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Outlook News Desk
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If both India and Pakistan have easy travel regimes, they'll earn goodwill among ordinary citizens who may become a force for change.

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Train To/From Pakistan
  • Stop playing the reciprocity game: "We'll be more liberal with visas when the other side is more accommodating." One side has to be the "loss leader" on this in the sense of unilaterally setting the pace. Of course, as an Indian, I would prefer that India be that leader. My impression is that India has been somewhat more generous on visas over the years; but we can certainly go further.
  • Pakistan should dismantle its internal No Objection Certificate regime. Pakistani nationals, if they want to come to India (and only India, from what I know), have to get permission from their authorities! India has not gone that far but Indian intelligence keeps very close track of who goes to Pakistan and for what purpose, as I found out on one occasion six years ago when a very polite IB official called me at home just minutes after I picked up my Pakistani visa!! From his conversation I learned that there is an "informal" no-objection procedure in India as well.
  • Both countries should be prepared to issue different types of visas for the seven categories of people that I listed above. Why not, as we do for the nationals of other countries, have five-year visas with multiple entries, one-year visas for a specified number of entries, single-entry visas for a restricted period, and so on. By and large, we should err on the side of liberalism and issue the longer-term visas rather than the restricted ones.
  • Both countries should abolish police reporting, which makes absolutely no sense. The police in the two countries are quite nice to middle-class, English-speaking types like me who come visiting, but there is enough evidence to suggest that they are awful with the non-metropolitan kinds of people who come to India and Pakistan. The reporting procedure helps in no way in terms of national security and only propagates fear and loathing for one's hosts.
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  • Why can't the two governments open more visa counters? It is truly sickening to see the crowds of visa applicants, who are harassed but also helped by touts, out in the scorching sun in front of the Pakistani High Commission. I know that neither country cares a hang about the comfort of ordinary citizens when they have to deal with the bureaucracy—just look at the appalling lack of chairs and benches in any government office in India—but the visa scene outside embassies is shocking here and in Pakistan.

    The time is ripe to end the Stalinist regime on travel. Unhindered travel may or may not make us good friends and solve the India-Pakistan quarrel; but it would certainly improve the lives of many Indians and Pakistanis.

    (The author is a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.)

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