12-22-2006, 12:09 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Make borders irrelevant [so that his family can come back again]
Najam Sethi's
E d i t o r i a l
India and Pakistan are on the verge of liberalizing travel between the two countries. This is the best news of the new century.
Currently, India is issuing up to 10,000 visas a month and Pakistan about 1000 visas to each otherâs citizens. But visa seekers on both sides have to run the gamut of intelligence agencies, queues and delays, which is worse than an obstacle race. Other restrictions apply. Most visitors have to report their movements to the police on arrival and departure like criminals on parole. They canât enter from one point and exit from another. They canât go to âcantonmentâ areas even though such areas are not exclusive military cantonments any more and have become residential suburbs. They canât get permission to visit more than a couple of cities on any one visit. They canât change their travel plans once they have landed in the other country. And so on. Often there are travel restrictions on diplomats as well, which is a contradiction in terms and completely absurd.
All this negativism is justified in the name of ânational securityâ by both sides as though real spies queue up for permission to ply their trade. Indeed, the violent destabilizing campaigns so effectively mounted from in the past by both in the other country through proxies are rarely, if ever, dependent on such restrictions. At the end of the day, Pakistanâs establishment has not been in favour of people-to-people contacts and cultural bonhomie because the âthreat from Indiaâ was a central plank of its âPakistanâs ideology strategyâ to retain primacy for the military in the countryâs body politic. As for India, its rigid and arrogant bureaucracy was wedded to the theme of âreciprocityâ (do unto Pakistan what Pakistan does unto you) even though it was clearly in Indiaâs interest to unilaterally flog an open travel regime so that Pakistanis could see for themselves that Indian Hindus were not out to gobble up Pakistan.
At last, real change is in the air. Many of the current restrictions will be lifted and people will be able to travel relatively freely in the region. This is on account of a dramatic change of heart in Pakistan rather than in India. Indeed, President-General Pervez Musharraf made a remarkable statement the other day at a conference in Islamabad. He said that tourism between India and Pakistan would benefit the economies of both countries. He might have said that people-to-people contacts would reduce hostility and enable him to build a peaceful neighbourly relationship with India, which is on the top of his agenda. But he shied away from the truth because it would have upset many old-timers in Pakistan whose veins are still flush with the anti-India poison injected over the decades in pursuit of false ânational securityâ objectives.
India has a flourishing tourism industry already which is a great foreign exchange earner and helps build the image of India as a peaceful, romantic and democratic place to visit. No one gawks at foreign women while local women bustle about in saris, shalwar/kameez, jeans and even skirts. Everyone who can afford it can put his hair down and feet up in beautiful resorts all over the country. Booze is not banned. In short, the ingredients of tourism â hospitality, charm, tolerance, infrastructure are aplenty and affordable. Pakistan, on the other hand, needs to improve its level of tolerance and infrastructure. But this is easier said than done. It is lumbered with adverse travel advisories by foreign countries and foreigners fear for their lives from gun toting, wild eyed mullahs rampaging on the streets.
However, the point of tourism between India and Pakistan shouldnât be underplayed either. Delhi, for instance, is full of old Lahoris who migrated in 1947. Many would flock to Lahore to refresh historical memories of communities and families and associations. Lahore would also become the focal point of transit to Srinager because it is at the centre of the old natural geographic trade routes between Kashmir and the rest of the sub-continent. Similarly, many people in Karachi would swamp the Indian consulates for a chance to revisit their roots in Bihar or Hyderabad or UP or Gujerat. From the other side, Sikh pilgrims would choke the highways of Pakistani Punjab year in and year out. What could be better for business than tourism that doesnât challenge our culture or affront our religion or outrage our sense of modesty?
Businessmen would profit the most from free association and trade. Some months ago, the Pakistan government added a few hundred items to the list of goods that can be imported from India. This was a radical step to rationalize the domestic economy. Now another few hundred items are on a list on which import duties will be mutually cut by up to 10% as part of an agreement under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement. Fears of Indian goods drowning Pakistani industry have evaporated since Chinese goods have come to play that dubious role. Only the fittest, most competitive and cheapest will now survive, which is good from the publicâs point of view.
Since borders canât be changed, they should become irrelevant. There can be no better mission statement than this for both India and Pakistan. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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Najam Sethi's
E d i t o r i a l
India and Pakistan are on the verge of liberalizing travel between the two countries. This is the best news of the new century.
Currently, India is issuing up to 10,000 visas a month and Pakistan about 1000 visas to each otherâs citizens. But visa seekers on both sides have to run the gamut of intelligence agencies, queues and delays, which is worse than an obstacle race. Other restrictions apply. Most visitors have to report their movements to the police on arrival and departure like criminals on parole. They canât enter from one point and exit from another. They canât go to âcantonmentâ areas even though such areas are not exclusive military cantonments any more and have become residential suburbs. They canât get permission to visit more than a couple of cities on any one visit. They canât change their travel plans once they have landed in the other country. And so on. Often there are travel restrictions on diplomats as well, which is a contradiction in terms and completely absurd.
All this negativism is justified in the name of ânational securityâ by both sides as though real spies queue up for permission to ply their trade. Indeed, the violent destabilizing campaigns so effectively mounted from in the past by both in the other country through proxies are rarely, if ever, dependent on such restrictions. At the end of the day, Pakistanâs establishment has not been in favour of people-to-people contacts and cultural bonhomie because the âthreat from Indiaâ was a central plank of its âPakistanâs ideology strategyâ to retain primacy for the military in the countryâs body politic. As for India, its rigid and arrogant bureaucracy was wedded to the theme of âreciprocityâ (do unto Pakistan what Pakistan does unto you) even though it was clearly in Indiaâs interest to unilaterally flog an open travel regime so that Pakistanis could see for themselves that Indian Hindus were not out to gobble up Pakistan.
At last, real change is in the air. Many of the current restrictions will be lifted and people will be able to travel relatively freely in the region. This is on account of a dramatic change of heart in Pakistan rather than in India. Indeed, President-General Pervez Musharraf made a remarkable statement the other day at a conference in Islamabad. He said that tourism between India and Pakistan would benefit the economies of both countries. He might have said that people-to-people contacts would reduce hostility and enable him to build a peaceful neighbourly relationship with India, which is on the top of his agenda. But he shied away from the truth because it would have upset many old-timers in Pakistan whose veins are still flush with the anti-India poison injected over the decades in pursuit of false ânational securityâ objectives.
India has a flourishing tourism industry already which is a great foreign exchange earner and helps build the image of India as a peaceful, romantic and democratic place to visit. No one gawks at foreign women while local women bustle about in saris, shalwar/kameez, jeans and even skirts. Everyone who can afford it can put his hair down and feet up in beautiful resorts all over the country. Booze is not banned. In short, the ingredients of tourism â hospitality, charm, tolerance, infrastructure are aplenty and affordable. Pakistan, on the other hand, needs to improve its level of tolerance and infrastructure. But this is easier said than done. It is lumbered with adverse travel advisories by foreign countries and foreigners fear for their lives from gun toting, wild eyed mullahs rampaging on the streets.
However, the point of tourism between India and Pakistan shouldnât be underplayed either. Delhi, for instance, is full of old Lahoris who migrated in 1947. Many would flock to Lahore to refresh historical memories of communities and families and associations. Lahore would also become the focal point of transit to Srinager because it is at the centre of the old natural geographic trade routes between Kashmir and the rest of the sub-continent. Similarly, many people in Karachi would swamp the Indian consulates for a chance to revisit their roots in Bihar or Hyderabad or UP or Gujerat. From the other side, Sikh pilgrims would choke the highways of Pakistani Punjab year in and year out. What could be better for business than tourism that doesnât challenge our culture or affront our religion or outrage our sense of modesty?
Businessmen would profit the most from free association and trade. Some months ago, the Pakistan government added a few hundred items to the list of goods that can be imported from India. This was a radical step to rationalize the domestic economy. Now another few hundred items are on a list on which import duties will be mutually cut by up to 10% as part of an agreement under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement. Fears of Indian goods drowning Pakistani industry have evaporated since Chinese goods have come to play that dubious role. Only the fittest, most competitive and cheapest will now survive, which is good from the publicâs point of view.
Since borders canât be changed, they should become irrelevant. There can be no better mission statement than this for both India and Pakistan. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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