Pakistan must reciprocate
Welcome news has come from across the Wahga border. After the slight escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan in the last two months, India has started the ‘visa-on-arrival’ facility for Pakistani senior citizens over 65 years of age from April 1. And, no, it is not an April Fool’s joke played by our next door neighbor. If anything was foolish, it was that the unfortunate killing of two Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in January had been allowed to create a delay in Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) amongst the two neighbors, whom direly need to bridge their differences for each other’s good.
From now, senior Pakistanis citizens of more than 65 years of age can receive ‘visa-on-arrival’ at Attari/Wagha checkpost for 45 days. This is a single entry visa. The facility itself was due to start from January 15 as agreed upon in September 2012. However, no decision has been take on the group tourist visa facility to citizens of both countries. These visas were supposed to be launched on March 15. Indian newspaper Hindustan Times cites “no visible forward movement in India-Pakistan bilateral relations” that led to the decision to grant the visa-on-arrival facility to Pakistani senior citizens. Whatever the reason may be, the facility must be replicated immediately by Pakistan, whom has more to gain from normalizing relations with India, that its larger neighbor.
Only last month, a diplomatic crisis was in the offering, as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the killing of Indian soldiers in Kashmir had “cast a shadow on bilateral relations” and passed the gauntlet to Pakistan to create a conducive environment for the normalisation process to be taken forward. India put the conditions as “tangible progress in dismantling Pakistan’s terror infrastructure,” something Pakistan needs to do on its own regardless. The admission has come directly from the Pakistan Army chief himself, when General Kiyani declared that “internal terrorism was a greater danger to Pakistan than India.” Opening our eastern border does not promise the end of terrorism, or, the end of the lingering suspicion in the two countries, but what it does promise is that people-to-people contact shall help erode hostilities in the short and long term. Will India all set to become the next global superpower, in terms of both economic and military might, Pakistan cannot afford to be in perpetual conflict with its bigger neighbor. Rather the fruits of trade shall be the harvest of a new era of peace amongst separated brothers; and the future of outstanding issues such as Kashmir shall be on the diplomatic table. The freeze of bilateral ties since the border skirmishes must end and talks must resume. India has taken the first step, Pakistan must reciprocate.
