Promoting people to people contact

The News, Sun, August,8, 2004.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema


The outcome of two days talks on the promotion of cultural interaction and friendly exchanges in various fields was the development of consensus to address the humanitarian issues concerning civilian prisoners and fishermen in their custody. In addition both sides exchanged views on the liberalisation of the visa regime and expanding the scope of 1974 bilateral Protocol on visits to religious shrines by increasing number of pilgrims and shrines on both sided.

While both sides agreed to work out a mechanism to release the civilian prisoners and fishermen in each others’ custody, the cordial nature of parleys indeed contributed towards the further improvement of overall prevalent atmosphere.  A joint statement was issued at the end of the meeting expressing satisfaction over the outcome of the talks. It seems both sides presented many proposals and discussed ways to broaden the scope of 1974 bilateral protocol on visits to religious places. There is no doubt that many in both countries are keen to visit religious places which are physical located in other country.

The leaders of both delegations issued almost similar statement in which both asserted that the talks were held in a very cordial and constructive atmosphere. The reports also indicate that many proposals dealing with exchanges and cooperation in the field of art, culture, archaeology, education, science and technology, youth affairs, sports, media and tourism were tabled for discussion.

The details of cooperation and mechanism for each of the above mentioned area certainly not only deserve serious attention but it should be ensured that the agreed mechanism is able to cope effectively with irritants that may emerge from time to time. For example the details of mutual tours should be left to the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation and its Indian counterpart.

Perhaps the most important result of these talks was the understanding developed over the need for visa relaxation. Indeed it is perhaps absolutely imperative to have a liberalised visa regime for encouraging people to people contact. Without removing unnecessary hurdles and facilitating visa procedures, the people to people contact cannot be visualised at a desirable level. The basic purpose of encouraging people to people contact that they familiarise themselves with the ground realities and comprehend the nature of impediments and then make efforts to overcome them. A direct contact along with the availability of relevant information could help in evolving correct mutual perceptions.

Easing visa restriction needs to be placed high on priority lists of the two countries. Not only certain groups of people should be placed in special categories such as old people but also visa should be granted for more cities than only restricting to couple of cities. Many have suggested that a country visa should be issued instead of the existing system of issuing only city visa. This of course puts severe restrictions on movement. There are many cases in which people have just stepped outside the allowed city inadvertently or area and they have to face the problems of violation of visa restriction.  Businessmen have been insisting that they should be placed in special category where a recommendation from the respective chambers of commerce should be sufficient for granting visa. Similarly other categories can also be made after a thorough discussion on this issue.

Another problem that has been frequently highlighted by many visitors revolves around the condition dealing with police reporting. The restriction of police reporting everyday is indeed anachronistic and it could be made much more realistic by opting only for initial reporting  within the first few days of arrival in which even the date of departure could also be given. As a matter of fact the idea of police reporting is intensely disliked by many visitors. Perhaps it is time to think of some alternative if it is deemed absolutely imperative to retain it in some form.

Undoubtedly increased interaction facilitates in comprehending others’ sensitivities which in turn always helps in perception formulation processes. Cooperation in some of the above mentioned areas could start almost immediately such as cooperation among the libraries, participation in book fairs, interaction between the educational institutions including establishing linkages with institutions like Indian University Grants Commission and Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission, encouraging artists and writers to visit each others country and undertaking a joint archaeological  excavation etc.

The institutions of higher learning need to have linkages among themselves. As the interaction increases, it is somewhat inevitable that participation in seminars from other side would become far more impressive than what we have experienced in the past. The participation of Indians in Pakistani arranged seminar and the participation of the Pakistanis scholars in Indian arranged seminars is indeed like to promote great understanding.

Another aspect of higher studies that need to be looked at deals with facilitating research. Many students especially those engaged in degree orientated research pursuits in both India and Pakistan are unable to have an access to relevant material because of the incumbent level of relationships. The higher learning authorities could ensure the development of a mechanism which facilitates the researcher. If the research facilities are extended to a researcher from the other side then it would not be out of order if the institutions of higher learning also begin to consider including examiners for evaluation research product from the other side.

While we are all aware of the fact that a vast reservoir of goodwill exists among the people of both Pakistan and India primarily because of many existing commonalities, but at the same time one cannot ignore of state of hostile relationships that have dominated and experienced over the years. Judging by the enormity of the goodwill demonstrated during Indian Cricket Team’s Pakistan visit, it would indeed be somewhat unrealistic to deny its existence. However it has also been experienced that the incumbent goodwill was unable to break the well entrenched barriers of distrust most of the time.  

Three factors appeared to have provided sustenance to the incumbent distrust. These are the historical baggage both of us inherited which includes disputes like ongoing Kashmir dispute, the involvement of the outsiders, and the existing power imbalance. Perhaps the most important among them that injects urgency is to get rid of historical baggage and more specifically work towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Once all issues and disputes are resolved, the power asymmetry is unlikely to make massive contributions. Even the influence of the outsider could also be subjected to reasonable check though it would indeed be totally unrealistic to think that you can shut the state from outside influences especially in an increasingly interdependent world and in an age of specialisation.

The successful outcome of talks between India and Pakistan on ‘Promotion of Friendly Exchanges’ within the context of composite dialogue augurs well for talks on other issue. Reports are also indicating that the successful outcome of these talks have impacted upon other meetings in one form or the other. The culture Secretaries of the two countries has set a good example but they need to ensure that the implementation mechanism is evolved quickly. The momentum that has been built would soon be lost if the detailed mechanism is not work out quickly enabling the ordinary people to enjoy taste of new relationships.