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Indian visas

29 July 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Biswajeet On e-mail
29 July 2005, 18:00 PM
I am from India and am a regular reader of "The Daily Star" . I find it to be one of the best and non-biased papers in South Asia. One interesting letter by SN Mamoon caught my eyes. He is absolutely correct that if we permit free travel as in Europe it would be economically very viable and spurt development activities in the region. I have been a constant traveller to Europe, Far East and US and feel miserable standing in the "Passport Control" for long hours and answering questions which I am sure many other South Asians would have also experienced whereas in most of the places, European/US and other passport holders walk through as we do at our bus or train stations.

Although passport and visa are a pain but it has more to do with geopolitical situation. In case of India, citizens of India and Nepal do not require visas, but is it not exploited by troublemakers? India as always wanted to have a South Asian union like Europe but then all other issues like Kashmir, terrorism, water sharing etc block the progress. Until faith and trust is established how can one have a visa-free environment?

Agreed the Indian borders are porous, but does that mean that all law-abiding citizens follow that route. Also Bangladesh does not allow India to fence the border for whatever reasons. Bangladesh also does not allow transit of Indian goods to Northeast which would have been a money spinner for Bangladesh. Bangladesh has hesitation in allowing a road link from Thailand to India or a rail link. Bangladesh complains of Indian river water sharing, India about terrorist camps in Bangladesh and illegal Bangladeshis in India.

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In such a situation how can one have a visa-free regime? First trust, faith, CBMs, appreciating each other's problems, understanding the geopolitical realities, and then addressing issues should happen, the visa-free regime would automatically follow.

Hope I was able to address the issue from an Indian perspective. We in India also want a very warm and friendly relation with Bangladesh and be happy to see a visa-free regime materialise after all these issues are taken care of.