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India, Pakistan plan to issue group visas

          New Delhi: India and Pakistan will soon start issuing group visas. "As the two countries are taking forward their composite dialogue process, we are working on starting group visas which would help tourists from each other's countries. People will not have to wait for long. Travel access will be very easy. A lot of people have been visiting each other's countries but we have to increase the travel amount more," Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Sonitold reporters after holding talks with her Pakistani counterpart Nilofar Bakhtiar. Bakhtiar is in New Delhi to participate in a three-day South Asia Tourism Fair. Trans-border movement of people is currently limited to visits between families and friends divided during the 1947 partition or for business, governed by an agreement signed in 1974. Both the countries had also signed a protocol to permit group visits by pilgrims to shrines in both countries. But either side does not issue tourist visas. India had proposed f liberalization of the visa regime, allowing group toursts and suggested visa on arrival for senior citizens and children less than 12 years. The recent summit of a South Asian grouping in New Delhi had also agreed to improve intra-regional connectivity, especially people- to-people contacts and a smooth flow of people between the countries. But any relaxation from the current level is unlikely given the security underpinnings. Currently visitors from each other's country are required to report to local police on arrival and departure and are not allowed to visit any place other than the one specifically allowed in the travel documents. Besides it also stipulates visitors must enter and exit from the same port.
-April 19,  2007