Visa agreement between India and Pakistan may delay further

The much awaited revised visa agreement between India and Pakistan, the text for which has already been finalized, may be delayed further with Pakistan indicating that it is not necessarily going to be signed during Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna’s visit to Islamabad early next month. In fact, at this stage, it seems more likely that the agreement will be formally signed when Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde visits Pakistan, the Times of India reported on Tuesday.
Shinde’s counterpart Rehman Malik last week invited him to visit Pakistan in a move described by Pakistan high commissioner to India Salman Bashir as reflecting Pakistan’s seriousness in tackling terror. Malik invited Shinde to Pakistan when he called him to discuss the issue of Assam violence related fake messages which, as India alleged, originated in Pakistan.
“We would like it to happen as soon as possible but it is not possible to say with certainty whether it will happen during the foreign minister’s visit next week,” said Bashir. “An invitation has been extended to the Indian home minister to visit Pakistan very recently. We attach great importance to the agreement and as we have said earlier too this has to happen at the political level,” he added. Government sources in New Delhi said though that Shinde did not make any commitment about visiting Pakistan soon. “How soon this visit by the home minister takes place will also depend on the outcome of the foreign ministry level dialogue next week,” said an official. India was earlier hoping that the agreement would be signed during its home secretary’s visit to Islamabad in May this year but Pakistan backed out then asking for more time and stating that it needed to be signed at the political level. The liberalized provisions for visa in the agreement are expected to provide an impetus to trade and investment flow between the two countries.