Indo-Pak joint working group on visa issues meets in Pak

From Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jun 2 (PTI) India and Pakistan on Thursday
discussed ways to ease the strict visa regime between the two
countries during the first meeting of a joint working group on
the issue.
The group, comprising officials of the Home and Interior
Ministries and the Foreign Ministries of the two sides, was
set up following the meeting of the Home and Interior
Secretaries in New Delhi in March.
"The group will discuss measures to streamline the visa
regime between the two countries during the two-day meeting"
which opened here on Thursday, an Indian official, who did not
want to be named, told PTI.
The group has been tasked to examine modalities for
streamlining the visa procedure and to give final shape to the
revision of a bilateral visa agreement.
India and Pakistan have a restrictive visa regime that
limits the locations which can be visited by citizens of both
countries.
Though Pakistani visa applications dipped sharply due
to the tensions generated by the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks,
India has issued more visas in recent years than the Pakistani
side.
Over the past few years, India has granted between
80,000 and one lakh visas annually. The figure for the
Pakistani side has hovered between 20,000 and 40,000, official
sources said.