Islamabad, Sep.8 (ANI): Increasing domestic pressure in India and Pakistan to liberalize the visa regimes is bearing fruit at last. Hundreds of thousands of displaced families will find it easier now to meet relatives across the border, separated due to partition.
Eight categories of visas, including diplomatic, non-diplomatic, transit, tourist visas, civil society, media and business visas would be offered. The tourist visa would be limited to five destinations with validity for a period of six months.
Att present, they were allowed only two or three destinations. The diplomatic visa category is also being liberalized, allowing family members to visit consular mission staff.
Five hundred Pakistanis would be allowed to visit Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Sikhs would be allowed to visit gurudwaras in Pakistan during Gurupurab.
Those above 65 years of age would be given visa on arrival.
The visa agreement would be signed today between Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.
Sources said the visa agreement had been agreed to between India and Pakistan some months ago, but Mr Malik was quite keen that the agreement be signed by him and India's former home minister Mr. P. Chidambaram.
However things didn't quite go as scripted, which is quite the norm when it comes to India Pakistan issues, and the document got shelved.
A consensus on all the points was reached during a meeting between Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani yesterday once again.
Among the other agreements to be signed between the two sides today is one on movement across the Line of Control (LoC) to allow Kashmiri pilgrims visit shrines on either side.
The two sides will also ink an agreement on culture between Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and its Pakistani counterpart PNCS.
The primary objective of Saturday's biltaeral interaction will be to review the progress of the post-Mumbai resumed composite dialogue, which covers all the main issues of interaction and to map the way forward.
Foreign Ministers of the two countries will on Sunday also preside over the lesser known Joint Commission, which seeks to promote cooperation in the fields of education, information, information technology and telecom, health, agriculture, tourism, science and technology and environment.
India's main focus could be on terrorism and its expectation that Pakistan should "do more" to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice, and take further steps to prevent terror-related attacks on India from its soil.
The pace of progress in the Pakistani courts against those accused of involvement in the Mumbai attack is, for India, the litmus test.
The main disputes of Kashmir, the Siachen Glacier, the Sir Creek sea boundary and the water issues will also find mention during Saturday's deliberations.
The political leaderships of the two countries would like unlock vast opportunities in all fields, including socio-economic development in both countries and the entire region, and know that progress has been slow thus far. By Smita Prakash (ANI)
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