Ease Travel Between India and Pakistan

To:  President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India

President Pervez Musharraf
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Islamabad, Pakistan

&

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Republic of India
New Delhi, India

Excellencies:

The peoples of India and Pakistan have many ethnologic similarities and centuries of common history and shared culture. Yet for almost six decades they have been kept apart. The separation has engendered mutual misconceptions, prejudices and suspicion, becoming one of the major roadblocks to peace between the two countries.

Now that the two governments are making an earnest effort to bring the walls down, it is essential to enable people to meet easily and frequently. We believe these contacts will permit the citizens of India and Pakistan to play their due role in the success of the ongoing dialogue so that their two countries can, at last, take their rightful place in the world. But the existing India-Pakistan Visa Agreement is a major obstacle.

It invariably takes a long time to process visa applications. Consequently, many applicants are unable to honor their commitments across the border. Others are prevented from participating in such important family events as weddings and funerals.

The border can be crossed at one place only, and in limited ways. People are forced to travel long distances and spend a lot of money just to go across. Crossing by road presents special difficulty to the elderly and the handicapped.

People are only allowed to visit a limited number of places in the other county. Points of entry and exit have to be identical and specified at the time the application is made.

Sometimes visas are denied without explanation. Unless an exemption has been allowed, which is rare, every visitor is obliged to report to police all movements, even change of hotel in the same city. This is a time-consuming and demeaning procedure.

Visa restrictions hinder cross-border business, and cultural, intellectual, and civil society exchanges.

We, therefore, urge you to please order the removal of all measures and formalities that inhibit and block people-to-people contact.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Ease Travel Between India and Pakistan Petition to President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India was created by Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) and written by Ingrid Shafer (ihs@ionet.net).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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