Pakistan daily hopes for better ties with India
9 April 2013 6:55 AM IST
The Indian government's decision to re-start visas on arrival for senior citizens is welcome as it indicates the end of unpleasantness between New Delhi and Islamabad, said a Pakistani daily Monday.
The visa on arrival for senior citizens was agreed 18 December, 2012 but frozen on 15 January, 2013.
The recent decision of the Indian government to restart it is welcome as ‘it denotes the end of the unpleasantness in the wake of the clash on the Line of Control’, said an editorial in the Daily Times.
‘The move to allow visas for senior citizens...has finally reversed the bellicosity of the Indian Chief of Army Staff, General Bikram Singh's threatening tone and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that it `could not be business as usual with Pakistan'.’
‘...It is hoped that in the interests of a long-term peace, such knee-jerk reactions would be avoided in future.’
The daily said that despite the ongoing overtures from both governments to bring ‘about a detente, the chances of trouble being stirred up by spoilers of the peace process are always there.’
‘It is high time such elements are rendered ineffective by ensuring that the will of the majority of the people in Pakistan and India to interact amicably is not torpedoed by a small group of those who want nothing short of mayhem for the advancement of their own bigoted, rigid and hate-filled narrative,’ it added.
The daily rued that borders, ‘and that too between people separated by circumstances, play havoc with their hearts and minds, having to exist without those with whom the shared bonds are of history, culture and geography.’
The visa on arrival for senior citizens was agreed 18 December, 2012 but frozen on 15 January, 2013.
The recent decision of the Indian government to restart it is welcome as ‘it denotes the end of the unpleasantness in the wake of the clash on the Line of Control’, said an editorial in the Daily Times.
‘The move to allow visas for senior citizens...has finally reversed the bellicosity of the Indian Chief of Army Staff, General Bikram Singh's threatening tone and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that it `could not be business as usual with Pakistan'.’
‘...It is hoped that in the interests of a long-term peace, such knee-jerk reactions would be avoided in future.’
The daily said that despite the ongoing overtures from both governments to bring ‘about a detente, the chances of trouble being stirred up by spoilers of the peace process are always there.’
‘It is high time such elements are rendered ineffective by ensuring that the will of the majority of the people in Pakistan and India to interact amicably is not torpedoed by a small group of those who want nothing short of mayhem for the advancement of their own bigoted, rigid and hate-filled narrative,’ it added.
The daily rued that borders, ‘and that too between people separated by circumstances, play havoc with their hearts and minds, having to exist without those with whom the shared bonds are of history, culture and geography.’
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