Ajay Bisaria has become India’s high commissioner to Pakistan at a time when relations are at a low ebb. He began his international career in Moscow when the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union was disintegrating into 15 nations. He is used to tough assignments, including being private secretary to the prime minister, but the Islamabad posting will test his capabilities like none other. Fresh from Poland, he has studied the tough visa systems prevalent in east European countries. But, he will not be able to issue visas to Pakistani citizens, because powers are centralised in Delhi. Even medical emergency visas are directly approved by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, which was not the case even when the two countries were directly at war. The minister has earned enormous goodwill in Pakistan for granting medical visas and in India for rescuing Indians in difficult situations around the globe. Her Twitter account is full of appeals made by those in distress and her ready responses.
But, should the minister keep on handling individual cases, spending valuable time, or leave it to the large number of diplomats who represent India in the capitals of the world? As there is little or no demand for medical visas to Pakistan, the Pakistani foreign minister has not been bothered with such requests. India and Pakistan have a rigid system of reciprocity, by which each country will yield or resist equally on all issues of bilateral relations.
Indian citizens who have to visit Pakistan to meet relatives or for pilgrimage or even for tourism have to wait till the all-clear message comes from Islamabad, where the Inter-Services Intelligence does complete background check. Similarly for Pakistani citizens, the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing are asked to do the check before the green signal to the embassy.
Illustration: Bhaskaran
Apart from confirming the bona fides of the applicants, the purpose of visit, too, is checked in the cities to be visited. Even if granted, the visa is confined to one or two cities in India and Pakistan. There are severe restrictions on the number of visas issued every month, enforcing the iron rule of reciprocity. The situation is unlikely to improve, given the enormous mistrust between the two neighbours, after flashes of normalisation during the mutual visits of prime ministers in 2014 and 2015. Indian diplomats are not allowed to move out of Islamabad city, while their counterparts have to confine themselves to Delhi, unless the host government gives special permission to travel out. Perhaps the minister, during the call by Bisaria, can tell him she would entrust him and the embassy with the responsibility of deciding on the medical visa applications, once the intelligence agencies have done due diligence. However, it will mean a loss of the personal touch.
sachi@theweek.in
