|
Visa on arrival for Pak seniors and kids |
 |
For the first time, India is willing to put in place a visa-on-arrival scheme and of all the countries, the inaugural offer will be made to Pakistan during the Foreign Secretary-level talks starting in Islamabad on Monday.
It is learnt that New Delhi is ready to grant visa on arrival to all Pakistani nationals above the age of 65 and children below 12.
This will be yet another gesture to increase exchange at a people-to-people level and a far-reaching one because India does not extend such facility to citizens of any other country.
According to reliable sources, the proposal is to have such a facility made available at the Wagah-Attari Immigration posts. While this is line with India’s policy to liberalise the visa regime, sources added that the idea behind unilaterally proposing the scheme to Pakistan was to further strengthen people-to-people contact and ease “genuine” travel from both sides.
It may be noted that India has announced several unilateral visa relaxation measures since September. This includes doing away with police reporting for accredited journalists, easing travel for academicians and professors and also a suggestion for increasing the number of places Pakistanis can visit each time they enter the country.
India has also proposed measures like amending the 1974 protocol to include more religious shrines in both countries, transit facilities to each other’s goods, opening the Wagah-Attari route for trade and designation of multiple airlines for scheduled services. While in some cases Islamabad has refused, response is still awaited for some of the proposals.
|
