The
Agra
summit, whether able to achieve anything significant in other fields or not, both leaders should make a sincere effort, to increase people to people level contacts between
India
and
Pakistan
. Steps to increase contacts between the people of the two nations will greatly boost the Indo-Pak poltical relations.
Three measures are essential to enhance people to people contacts. Firstly, the visa restrictions in both the countries need to be relaxed. Though this has been the most discussed issue between both countries, at the practical level, the record of both countries in providing visas is dismal. A decision at high level by Musharraf and Vajpayee in easing the visa restrictions would considerably enhance the movement of people across the border. To start with,
India
should unilaterally announce relaxing the visa procedures, atleast for academics, media people, artists and students.
India
has nothing to lose by providing visa to these people and letting them visit the country. On the contrary, it has a lot to gain, as these visits would surely change the fixed views created inside
Pakistan
regarding
India
.
Secondly, an institutional arrangement is very essential in increasing the contacts at the people level. Any unilateral or bilateral announcements during the
Agra
summit should be followed up with proper arrangement to facilitate the movement. An arrangement with a small budget, to start with, would considerably increase the movement of the people. To begin with, an effort could be made to encourage academicians, especially students, to visit each other's countries for their research.
India
and
Nepal
had established a BP Koirala Foundation to fund the academic exchanges, field trips etc.
India
and
Pakistan
too could establish such a foundation jointly, to facilitate academic exchanges, which could later be expanded to other areas to include exchange of artists, poets, writers etc. Vajpayee has announced scholarships for 20 Pakistani students in Indian technical institutions. Instead of unilateral, one-time announcements, a bilateral and a permanent arrangement would increase the exchange of students between both the countries. Also, instead of limiting to a technical institution, an institutional arrangement could also be made in the field of social sciences. To start with, at least one university in
India
and
Pakistan
can have a fixed number of seats, exclusively for the other. The premier institutes of both the countries, for example,
Jawaharlal
Nehru
University
in
New Delhi
and
Quaide-Azam
University
in
Islamabad
can be considered for such an arrangement. At present, there is not a single Pakistani student at JNU, where as, there are a number of students from other SAARC countries, and even from far away countries such as
Belgium
and
Japan
.
Thirdly, there is a need to increase the existing travel arrangements between the two countries. The Delhi-Lahore Bus service was launched in February 1999, with two services a week. This has now been increased to four days a week due to great rush for bookings. This is due to the fact that the cost was only Rs 800 (which has now been increased to Rs 1000) and it takes only 14 hours to travel 800 kms. It has now been decided to run four buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) two each on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The announcement to increase the service that was made on June 10 could have been given more publicity.
Pakistan
should also increase the service, and the bus service could be made daily.
A Bus Service from
Srinagar
to Muzaffarabad
A bus service between the two capitals of
Kashmir
has been suggested on the pattern of Lahore-New Delhi road service. Kashmiris living on both sides have relatives on the other side, and such a move would gain the support of the Kashmiris.
India
should suggest this idea to Gen Musharraf.
The suggestion is bound to be questioned inside
India
on two counts – Security and Political. At the political level, those who are against such a move would argue that agreeing to a bus service between two capitals would implicitly mean
India
’s formal recognition of Muzaffarabad being under the control of
Pakistan
. How can
India
recognize
Pakistan
’s occupation of
Kashmir
? The time has come to initiate certain bold steps, instead of binding oneself with useless, unpragmatic legal questions. If the objective is to win the hearts of the Kashmiris, even a small step that would appeal to the sentiments of the Kashmiris should be taken.
At the security level, the objection to the bus service would be that the militants would misuse it. If one accepts the Indian government version on the large number of militants who cross the LoC everyday, they would not need a bus service to cross the border. Anyway those traveling can always be investigated before being given a visa.
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