Pak, Indian govts. urged to adopt ‘more rational visa policy’ to facilitate contacts
February 1st, 2011 - 7:12 pm ICT by ANIIslamabad, Feb 01(ANI): A joint declaration issued at the sixth round of the Chaophraya Dialogue in Bangkok has urged the Indian and the Pakistan governments to ‘adopt a more rational visa policy to facilitate contacts’.
Former Pakistan Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman and former Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General (retd) Jehangir Karamat were among the participants of the dialogue, which was jointly organised by the Jinnah Institute (JI), Islamabad, and Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi.
“We note with disappointment the difficulty in people to people contact because of the increasingly restrictive visa regime. We urge the two governments to adopt a more rational visa policy that facilitates contacts, particularly between media parishioners, academics, students and business people. We reiterate the need to initiate institutionalised and regular dialogue between the intelligence agencies of the two countries,” The News quoted the joint declaration, as saying.
Terrorism, extremism, Jammu and Kashmir, nuclear stability, security, safety and crisis management were some of the issues discussed during the comprehensive two-day dialogue.The participants said they “welcome the forthcoming meeting of foreign secretaries in Thimphu and hope that the two sides will be able to prepare the ground for the resumption of a comprehensive and sustained dialogue. We hope that this will lead to a productive summit.”
They also acknowledged the ‘increasingly crucial role’ of the media on both sides of the border in shaping public perception.
“Therefore, we encourage the media to help strengthen the constituency for peace in both countries. We exhort the opening up of the airwaves to each other’s television channels and other cultural products. We believe that South Asia is faced with serious challenges posed by extremism, which undermine democratic and pluralistic societies. There is a special need to ensure that state institutions are not eroded and undermined by extremism,” the declaration added. (ANI)
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Tags: army staff, constituency, crisis management, intelligence agencies, jammu, jehangir karamat, jinnah, nuclear stability, parishioners, peace and conflict studies, public perception, resumption, role of the media, security safety, sherry rehman, South Asia, television channels, thimphu, visa policy, visa regime