Nazia Nazar
According to “Daily Mail U.K” report, thousands of Pakistanis wanting to cross the border to meet their families are finding it difficult to visit India, as every second visa application was rejected this year. The increasing number of declined visas prompted Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale to ask New Delhi why so many requests are being turned down, as nearly 53 per cent of applications have been rejected this year. In a recent communication to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Bambawale has raised concerns about the number of visa applications being rejected. Out of 33,191 applications received this year by May 31, as many as 17,581 were rejected. The number of visas declined was 9,335 out of 38,557 applications in 2015, and in 2014 out of 50,338 applications 8910 were rejected.
Earlier this year in January, soon after the Pathankot attack, a group of nearly 75 pilgrims who wanted to visit a shrine near Agra were denied visas on procedural grounds. Citizens of both countries have families across the border and visit religious places in large numbers. In 2012, India and Pakistan had signed a liberalised visa agreement that proposed a time-bound approval to boost trade and people-to-people contact. However, the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown utter disregard to this agreement. Some liberal intellectuals and analysts in Pakistan harp on aman ki asha (hope for peace) launched by Pakistani and Indian media groups, and their avowed objective is to bring peoples of India and Pakistan closer.
But Indian government has been creating hurdles by denying visas even to the sportsmen and other travelers on various pretexts. In 2014, Indian government had refused visa to four Pakistani snooker players that were to participate in the Asian under-21 Snooker Championship, which was scheduled to start from April 4, 2014 in Mohali, India. “Pakistan Snooker team would not participate in the tournament due to non-issuance of visa,” Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) spokesman said. He added that India denied issuing the visa without telling the reason. Indian government through its High Commissioner had advised the Pakistani travelers visiting to Indian cities to produce a Polio Vaccination Certificate prior to resumption of their tours to India. He insisted that the certificates must be carried by the Pakistan travelers during their stay in India.
India’s deep-seated animosity towards Pakistan can well be measured through her secret plots, spying schemes and espionage/sabotage missions illegally sent inside Pakistani territory in the form of clusters of secret agents, spy networks, criminals/terrorists and groups of saboteurs. The aim is to get access to vital information and knowledge, which can be detrimental to core Pakistani interests. Specially-trained and highly dangerous terrorists and saboteurs are sent by Indian military and intelligence agencies to clandestinely slip into Pakistani territory with a task to execute criminal plans including bomb blasts, target killing, and other vile activities. Unfortunately, Indian government does not feel any qualms for having planned and conducted such clandestine acts of terrorism and espionage. It not only refuses to accept the responsibility but also goes on to blame Pakistan for every wrong which occurs in India.
The release of Indian prisoner/terrorist Surjeet Singh from Pakistani jail in 2012 had uncovered the real face of Indian government, RAW and Military Intelligence (MI). India had denied that Surjeet Singh, freed after serving three decades in Pakistani jails on espionage charges was a spy working for New Delhi. However, Surjeet Singh confessed before the Indian media that he was spying for India (RAW) when he was arrested by Pakistani authorities in the 1980s. He also lashed out on Indian authorities for having abandoned him during his 23 years of jail terms in Pakistan, as his family was not looked after by the state. In March 2012, the Commerce Ministry had issued an SRO, stating that India could import everything from Pakistan except 1,209 items placed on the Negative List by Islamabad after promising grant of MFN status to New Delhi.
But that gesture of Pakistan had no effect on India. In Pakistan, a section of business community believed that Pakistan would stand to lose because of India’s high tariff on imports from Pakistan. The other group radiated an aura of optimism, as Pakistan would have access to the market consisting of plus-one billion people. Indian government and business men have all along wished to enhance bilateral trade expressing the hope it would in turn create an environment and climate conducive to peace in the region. But some defence analysts in India raised the question of security implications vis-à-vis economic relations with Pakistan. Former Additional Secretary in cabinet secretariat of the Government of India and former head of the counter-terrorism division of India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) B. Raman was one of them.
He cautioned the Indian government that “increased flow of Pakistan intelligence personnel and jihadi leaders to India under the cover of businessmen for establishing contacts with leaders of organizations like Indian mujahideen could enable the Pakistani intelligence to acquire a key presence in sensitive sectors of our economy. They could use the presence to disrupt our economy and collect strategic intelligence regarding our economic deficiencies that could be exploited by them. He categorized the Foreign Institutional Investments (FIIs) in Indian stock markets under high security implications and stated: “Allowing either China or Pakistan to invest in our stocks will give them a capability to disrupt our economy through manipulation of their stock holdings”, suggesting that it should not be allowed. This is the level of trust of Indian leaders and so-called security experts.
