Dawn – Dr Shakil’s shifting from Central Jail Peshawar finalised

Zahir Shah Sherazi

Peshawar, 29 May 2012. A plan, for shifting of Dr Shakil Afridi from Central Jail Peshawar to Punjab, has been finalised and all the law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert to avert any untoward incident.

Official sources told Dawn.com that a special meeting, held on Monday in Peshawar with the concerned department and law enforcement agencies’ representatives, approved the formal shifting plan of Dr Shakil Afridi, convicted for 33 years in a treason case, which led to the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The sources said that it’s likely that Afridi might be shifted through a special helicopter provided by the interior ministry to a jail or fort in Punjab, which according to the sources have not been finalised but it might be the Attock Fort.

Fool-proof security arrangements have also been ordered for the shifting plan, which can happen any time, but no specific time frame has so far been finalised for security reasons.

The sources added that the provincial authorities have approved the plan for shifting Afridi, owing threats to his life from Taliban inmates of Central Jail Peshawar or attack on the jail like the one on Bannu Jail last month.

Banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mehsud region chief Waliur Rehman had already threatened to execute Dr Shakil Afridi to avenge bin Laden’s killing a few days ago.

Earlier, Jamil Afridi, the brother of Dr Shakil Afridi, who is a teacher by profession told media representatives in Peshawar that his brother had not committed any crime but he had been made an escape goat in the Osama bin Laden case.

“The punishment awarded to Dr Shakil Afridi under the 40 FCR is unlawful. Neither can we meet him nor we can get the appeal documents signed from him,” said Jamil.

To a query he said: “We can not tell about Dr Shakil’s family as they are faced with security threats but we are not going to accept the verdict of APA and a few jirga members.”

The probable lawyers of Shakil Afridi, Ijaz and Samiullah Afridi on the occasion said that although the political authorities had not handed them copy of the verdict but they are planning to challenge the decision to the FCR Commissioner and the High Court as well.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/29/dr-shakils-shifting-from-central-jail-peshawar-finalised/

Dawn – Rediscovering our Sikh heritage

Bushra Shehzad

Friday 25 May 2012. When I learned that ‘Getting to Know Pre-Colonial Punjab through Sikh-period Frescoes’ was being offered as an actual course at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) last semester, I was ecstatic.

It was my first encounter with the pioneering woman who has made it her life’s mission to document the largely undiscovered subject.

“I was roaming around the Lahore Fort when I came across the Athdara. I got on top of it and started looking around. I found several features that were Mughal but some were very different – a confusing but intriguing mix of materials and motifs,” remembers Dr Nadhra Shahbaz Naeem Khan. This was the moment when her unique journey to documenting Sikh art and architecture in Pakistan began, which in her words, was “serendipity.”

Dr Khan graduated with a degree in graphic design from the Department of Fine Arts, University of the Punjab (presently the College of Art and Design) and completed her postgraduate in the same. Later, she taught at their Fine Arts Department for a few years before working for an advertising agency, and then joined the Lahore College for Women University, where she set up their Department of Art and Design.

In 2002, while Dr Khan was teaching Art and Design, the Punjab University announced a PhD programme in Art History. It was then that she says, she just “dived into it” without a very clear concept of where it would lead her.

To read the full article and see the pictures click on the underneath link :

http://dawn.com/2012/05/24/rediscovering-our-sikh-heritage/

Bushra Shehzad interviewed Dr Nadhra Shahbaz Naeem Khan for Hosh Media – a volunteer-based organisation that aims to bring youth voices onto the mainstream media in Pakistan.

Dawn – Balochistan conference demands end to military operation

Islamabad, 27 May 2012. “Who are these people who have enforced these disappearances? Is there no rule of law or respect for the Constitution in this land?” asked Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, the chief of the main opposition party, as he addressed a conference on Balochistan held in Islamabad on Saturday.

“The Baloch have a right to rebel … why shouldn’t they, after all that they have been put through?” remarked the PML-N chief, one of the most vocal leaders at the conference, as he called bringing Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murderers to justice.

“His body was desecrated … while his murderers were presented with a guard of honour,” said Sharif as he referred to former President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorial regime. “Does anybody have the courage to hold him responsible?”

Top leaders of major political parties were in attendance at the National Conference on Balochistan, organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), as they called for a dialogue with all stakeholders in order to solve the province’s problems.

A fifteen-point resolution aimed to resolve Balochistan’s problems was passed unanimously at the conference. The resolution calls for an end to the ongoing military operation in the insurgency-hit province, and the withdrawal of military and paramilitary troops from Balochistan.

While some leaders blamed military dictators, others called for addressing the issue of missing persons in Balochistan.

In his opening remarks, SCBA President Yaseen Azad said that the main unrest in Balochistan is the problem of missing persons which could only be addressed through parliament by political forces.

Speaking at the same venue, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan stressed that granting “unconditional amnesty” to Baloch rebels was the only way to resolve the complex problem.

Khan said that the solution lies in the hands of the country’s politicians, and not with military personnel. Moreover, he said that the soldiers were not trained to perform the job of policemen.

On the other hand, PML-Q Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed felt that the ‘Balochistan problem’ was spreading to other parts of the country and stressed: “We have to tackle it with a serious sense of responsibility. No one is taking responsibility for deteriorated law and order situation in the province.”

Asma Jahangir, former president of Supreme Court Bar Association, remarked that the solution of Balochistan issue was vested with the political parties and they should take immediate initiatives in that regard.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, was of the opinion that a society could not survive without justice and enforcement of Consttution could ensure all fundamental rights and provincial autonomy.

He said the rights of Baloch people over natural resources should be fully acknowledged.

President National Party Dr. Abdul Malik underlined the imperative need for granting basic rights to the people of Balochistan.

“Balochistan is an integral part of Pakistan and we have to find out solution by dialogue with all the stakeholders.

Deputy Chairman Pakhtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party Abdur Rahim Mandokhel said all problems have been created by the dictatorial regimes and now it is the duty of political leadership to address and resolve them.

President Hazara National Jirga Abdul Qayyum Chengezi said solution of problems was by holding free, fair and impartial elections.

President JUI-F Balochistan Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani was of the view that problems of Balochistan need a united national solution in accordance to the teachings of Islam.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/26/balochistan-conference-demands-end-to-military-operation/

The Asian Age – Pakistan defers signing of visa deal, India miffed

Asian Age Correspondent, with agency inputs

Islamabad/New Delhi, 26 May 2012. India and Pakistan on Friday failed to sign an agreement on a liberalised visa regime, expected at the end of the home secretary-level talks in Islamabad, and merely agreed to do so soon, after Islamabad insisted at the last minute on “political participation”.

The two sides, however, did agree to further cooperation between their investigative agencies, including on 26/11, while Pakistan agreed in principle to receive an Indian judicial commission for a probe into the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

India’s displeasure at Friday’s developments was evident with foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai telling reporters in New Delhi: “We had gone there fully prepared to sign it (the agreement).” He also noted “both sides had attached a lot of importance on signing the visa agreement”.

Mr Mathai attributed the failure to ink the pact to “some delay in their (Pakistani) procedures” as well as Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik’s “desire for political participation in inking the agreement”.

Mr Malik, who met India’s home secretary R.K. Singh separately, said he had invited home minister P. Chidambaram to visit Pakistan, and hoped the agreement could be signed during Mr Chidambaram’s visit.

Mr Malik had made a similar suggestion a month ago, but Mr Chidambaram had declined then, suggesting it be done at the talks between the home secretaries.

Mr Mathai recalled the decision (on the visa agreement) was taken when Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in April. The planned visa regime relaxation was seen as a major step in furthering the peace process. External affairs minister S.M. Krishna told Parliament after the Singh-Zardari meeting a “liberalised visa agreement should be signed at the next meeting of the home secretaries”.

A joint statement issued in Islamabad on Friday after the two-day talks between Mr R.K. Singh and Pakistan’s Khwaja Siddique Akbar said the two nations agreed to sign a new visa agreement at an early date. The Pakistani side said “some internal approvals were under process, and (it) will be signed once they are in place”.

On 26/11, it said Pakistan “agreed in principle to receive a judicial commission from India”, and that “modalities, mandate and composition of the commission will be worked out through diplomatic channels”.

Mr Malik said both sides exchanged dossiers on terror-related issues, and Pakistan had got additional evidence from India against Hafiz Saeed. He added Pakistan could not act on the basis of “hearsay”, and that it would examine the evidence against Saeed.

http://www.asianage.com/india/pak-defers-signing-visa-deal-india-miffed-000

The Tribune – Visa protocol: Sukhbir writes to PM

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to liberalise provisions of the proposed trade and visa protocol between India and Pakistan.

The Deputy Chief Minister, in a letter to the Prime Minister, ahead of the Home Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, said the age bar (under 12 and over 65) for a visitor’s visa in the proposed protocol “are restrictive and defeat the spirit of the purpose for which the exercise is being undertaken.”

The Deputy CM took exception to clauses in the trade protocol that “appear to be tailored to suit only big business houses on either side of the border. Limiting multiple entry visas to business houses with a high annual turnover is discriminatory.”

He said this would deny small entrepreneurs, traders and farmers the opportunity to benefit from the liberalised trade regime. Sukhbir also urged the Prime Minister to ensure the visa-on-arrival facility for pilgrims, the ill, the physically challenged and those with special needs and make the “protocol truly liberal in letter and spirit so that a larger number of people, particularly the youth on either side of the border, are encouraged to exchange visits.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120525/punjab.htm#2

The Hindu – J&K interlocutors’ report for reviewing all Central Acts

Vinay Kumar

New Delhi, 24 May 2012. The final report of the Central government-appointed Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir has ruled out a return to the pre-1953 position, and recommended the setting up of a Constitutional Committee (CC), to review all Central Acts and Articles of the Constitution of India, extended to the State after the signing of the 1952 Agreement.

The report of the Centre’s interlocutors — eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar, and former information commissioner M. M. Ansari — suggested a future-oriented approach (one that takes into full account the strategic, political, economic and cultural changes in the State, in India as a whole, in the South-Asian region and beyond, as a result of globalisation) should enable all stakeholders to reach a rapid agreement on the Articles of the Constitution of India.

While upholding Article 370 that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the 176-page report underlined that “the clock cannot be set back” but felt that the “erosion” of Article 370 during the decades needed to be “re-appraised” to give it more powers.

It recommended deletion of the word “temporary” from the heading of Article 370, and from the title of Part XXI of the Constitution, and suggested replacing it with the word “Special” as it has been used for rest of the States under Article 371.

The report was uploaded on Thursday on the website of the Union Home Ministry for the benefit of the public at large. “The views expressed in the report are the views of the interlocutors. The Government still hasn’t taken any decision on the report. The Government will welcome an informed debate on the contents of the report,” a statement by the official spokesperson of the Home Ministry said here.

The interlocutors’ report was placed in public domain two days after the Budget Session of Parliament ended, and at a time when Home Secretary-level talks are being held between India and Pakistan in Islamabad.

The group of interlocutors had held extensive deliberations with the State government, political parties, civil society, stakeholders at the State and national levels. They submitted their report to the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on October 12, 2011, exactly a year after their appointment.

Mr. Padgaonkar later said that interlocutors haven’t recommended abolition of Article 370. “What we have said is that we aren’t inventing something. Under Article 371, there are several States of the Union, which have been designated as special category states.”

The report has recommended a status quo in the use of nomenclatures in English of the Governor and Chief Minister, and equivalent nomenclatures in Urdu may be used. Until 1965, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir was addressed as ‘Wazir-e-Azam’ [Prime Minister] and the Governor as ‘Sadar-e-Riyasat’ [President].

Proposing a “New Compact” with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the report focuses on three components — political, economic and social and cultural — forming a single package, which cannot be accepted on a selective basis.

Under the political component, the report deals with Centre-State relations and internal devolution of powers, and suggests a road map listing confidence-building measures. It favours amendment of the Public Safety Act, review of Disturbed Areas Act, and re-appraisal of application of controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

The report favoured resumption of the dialogue process between the Centre and Hurriyat Conference “at the earliest opportunity”. It expressed the hope that such a dialogue “should yield visible outcomes and be made uninterruptible.”

Dwelling further on the dialogue process, the interlocutors recommended that Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir should be encouraged to enter into a dialogue on the recommendations as fine-tuned by the Constitutional Committee (CC), and points emerging from the Government-Hurriyat dialogue. It favoured an agreement between India and Pakistan to promote civil society interactions for Jammu and Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control.

The report recommended that the search for solution shouldn’t be made contingent on India-Pakistan talks. “If the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir are willing to enter into a settlement, the door can always be kept open for Pakistan to join. The key goal is, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed, to make the LoC irrelevant. It should become a symbol of Concord and Cooperation,” it said.

Some other recommendations include speedy implementation of the recommendations of the Prime Minister’s working group on CBMs, in particular, making the return of all Kashmiris, mainly Pandits, a part of State policy; facilitating the return of Kashmiris stranded across the LoC; establishing a judicial commission to look into unmarked graves, speeding up human rights and the rule of law reforms.

Noting that the group’s recommendations will meet the political aspirations of the all the people of Jammu and Kashmir to a great extent without harming national interest, the interlocutors favoured creation of three Regional Councils, one each for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

“Parliament will make no laws applicable to the State unless it relates to the country’s internal and external security, and its vital economic interests, especially in the areas of energy and access to water resources,” it recommended.

The interlocutors suggested that the writ of autonomous and statutory institutions should be extended to the State, and their functioning should conform to the provisions of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pointing out that a general consensus existed on a political settlement in the state through a dialogue between all stakeholders, including those who aren’t part of the mainstream, the report recommended that Jammu and Kashmir should function as a single entity.

The report said the State assembly will submit three names to the President for the post of Governor, who will be appointed by the President. It also suggested that there should be no change in Article 356, and if the State government is dismissed, elections should be held within three months.

The group said that the proposed Constitutional Committee could complete its work in six months, and present it findings to the Parliament and State Legislature. The CC should be mandated to conduct its review, bearing in mind the dual character of Jammu and Kashmir — being a constituent unit of the Indian union, and enjoying a special status under Article 370 of the Constitution — and the dual character of the people — state subjects as well as Indian citizens.

“The review will, therefore, have to determine if — and to what extent — the central Acts and Articles of the Constitution of India, extended with or without amendment to the state, have dented Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and abridged the State government’s powers to cater to the welfare of its people,” it said. The next step would be for the President, in exercise of powers under Article 370, to issue an order incorporating the recommendations of the CC.

The report recommended that for promotion of the State’s economic self-reliance, a fresh financial agreement between the Centre and the State was required.

The report made several recommendations to harmonise relations between people on both the sides of Line of Control, including a hassle-free movement of people and goods across the LoC, and a consultative mechanism, where elected representatives from both sides can deliberate on issues of common interests like water, economy, tourism and trade.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3451474.ece

The Tribune – Key 26/11 accused yet to face courts in Pakistan, says India

Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Pakistan and India began their first round of two-day interior secretaries-level talks that focused mainly on liberalising visa regime and anti-terrorism cooperation.

Pakistan’s Interior Secretary, Khwaja Siddique Akbar, and his Indian counterpart, Home Secretary R K Singh, led their respective delegations.

The Indian side expressed its dissatisfaction with Pakistan’s investigations into the Mumbai attacks.

Singh said Hafiz Saeed had masterminded this attack and the Indian side has provided more evidence of his involvement. He said the judicial proceedings going on in Pakistan pertaining to the Mumbai attack were very slow.

The Indian interior secretary further said that a number of suspects were never arrested. He added that both the countries should play their roles in ensuring peace in the region.

Khawaja Siddique Akbar said the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere and made progress on liberalising visa regime to promote people-to-people contacts.

Both sides were discussing a draft protocol originally prepared by New Delhi and fine-tuned after shuffling to-and-fro. It proposes reducing the present two-month period for issuing visas to one month, allowing group tourism, extended visits to three instead of two cities and allowing multi-entry business visas for a one-year period to businessmen accredited by their recognised organisations. Senior citizens would also be given preferential treatment.

The two secretaries are expected to ink the pact by the conclusion of the talks tomorrow, official sources said.

However, some reports in the Pakistani media claimed that the visa agreement is unlikely to be signed as the Pakistani Cabinet had not approved it at its last meeting yesterday.

Reports said Interior Minister Rehman Malik had not brought the agreement before the Cabinet for approval.

The Indian side has suggested imposing restriction of minimum monthly earning of Rs 20,000 for applicants with educational qualification, a senior Pakistani official told this correspondent. Pakistan has not approved such restrictions.

On the second day of negotiations on Friday, a joint statement will be issued. (With inputs from PTI)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120525/main5.htm

Dawn – Treatment of Pakistan doctor ‘unjust, unwarranted:’ Clinton

Washington, 25 May 2012. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday denounced as “unjust and unwarranted” the treatment of a Pakistani doctor who was jailed for 33 years for helping in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

A tribal court in Khyber, a lawless district and extremist hotbed, on Wednesday convicted Shakeel Afridi of treason after he agreed to collect DNA for US intelligence to verify the presence of the most-wanted al Qaeda leader.

“We regret both the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence,” Clinton told a joint press conference with New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

The chief US diplomat said Afridi’s role “was instrumental in taking down one of the world’s most wanted murderers. That was clearly in Pakistan’s interest, as well as ours and the rest of the world’s.” Afridi ran a fake vaccination program designed to collect bin Laden family DNA from the compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, near Islamabad, where the al Qaeda leader was shot dead in a US commando raid in May 2011.

The doctor’s actions “to help bring about the end of the reign of terror designed and executed by bin Laden was not in any way a betrayal of Pakistan,” Clinton said.

“We are raising it (his case) and we will continue to do so because we think that his treatment is unjust and unwarranted,” she said.

Her remarks were stronger than those given Wednesday by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland who said Pakistan had “no basis for Dr. Afridi to be held.”

Nuland’s muted remarks came as Washington and Islamabad, allies in the war on terror, struggle to repair ties that hit a low when US forces staged the secret raid into Pakistan that killed bin Laden.

They were strained to breaking point last November when US forces staged a botched raid that killed 24 Pakistani troops, prompting Islamabad to cut off the land route for supplies to Nato troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Carl Levin and John McCain, the top senators from the two major US parties on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday called Afridi’s sentence “shocking and outrageous” and urged Pakistan to pardon and free him immediately.

“Dr. Afridi’s continuing imprisonment and treatment as a criminal will only do further harm to US-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress’s willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan,” they warned.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million – $1 million for each year of jail time handed to Afridi.

The measure, an amendment to the $52 billion US foreign aid budget, passed in a 30-0 vote in a sign of growing outrage here over Afridi’s conviction.

“We need Pakistan, Pakistan needs us, but we don’t need Pakistan double-dealing and not seeing the justice in bringing Osama bin Laden to an end,” said Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who pressed for the measure.

The mammoth appropriations bill, which includes a total of $1 billion in assistance for Pakistan, will go now to the Senate floor after passing out of committee on Thursday.

The reduction represents a 58 per cent cut in the amount of aid President Barack Obama had requested for Pakistan.

The United States has given Pakistan more than $18 billion in assistance since the September 11, 2001 attacks, but US officials have persistent concerns that some elements of the establishment have maintained support for extremists.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/25/treatment-of-pakistan-doctor-unjust-unwarranted-clinton/

The Tribune – Nanakshahi Calendar; Dissent persists over amended version

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 23. It has been well over two years since the SGPC introduced the amended Nanakshahi Calendar, but it is still grappling to get it implemented among all Sikh organisations in the world.

This became evident recently when Pakistan denied visas to 320 Sikh pilgrims wanting to visit the neighbouring country to observe the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev while contending that the event is not being observed in Pakistan during the period when the SGPC intends to send its jatha.

The SGPC wanted to send a jatha to Pakistan from May 17 to 26 as it is observing the event here on May 25, but the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) is sticking to its date of June 16 as per the original Nanakshahi Calendar.

Last year too Pakistan had denied visas to 340 Sikh devotees for this occasion for the same reason.

Back home, the DSGMC also follows the original version of the calendar while observing “gurpurabs” in a year. The fact that the SGPC has to time and again publish advertisements, appealing Sikhs to celebrate/observe a “gurpurab” on a particular date shows that the community remains divided over the calendar.

Continuing with the trend, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar appealed to the Sikh sangat on Tuesday to observe the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev on May 25 as per the amended calendar. He said some Sikh organisations were not falling in line due to their “narrow political interests”. He said it was the duty of the SGPC to ensure implementation of directions of the Akal Takht, but these outfits were violating these, which was not appropriate.

Makkar said they were planning to send a jatha to Pakistan next month for observing the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh. “We will ask our representatives in the jatha to hold talks with the PSGPC to convince them to follow the amended calendar as per directions of the Akal Takht”.

Former PSGPC president Bishen Singh said they would organise an “akhand path” on June 14-16 at Gurdwara Dehra Sahib in Lahore and would observe the event on June 16. However, at the same time, PSGPC vice-president Sahab Singh said they would hold a meeting of the Sikh sangat on May 26 to discuss the issue denial of visas to Sikh pilgrims from India.

Conflicting point

Pakistan has denied visas to 320 Sikh pilgrims since the Pakistan gurdwara body is observing the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev on a different date

The DSGMC also follows the original version of the calendar

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120524/punjab.htm#8

The Tribune – Home Secretary-level talks begin today; India, Pakistan set to sign liberal visa agreement

Ajay Banerjee, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23. Even as New Delhi pushes for punishing the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, the two nations are set to sign a path-breaking visa agreement that will in many ways increase much-needed people-to-people contact.

Union Home Secretary R K Singh today left for Islamabad for a two-day meeting (May 24-25) with his Pakistani counterpart Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddique Akbar. The two will sign a new visa regime and also discuss terrorism, a matter that has seen much public debate in India as it pushes for punishing Jamaat-Ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and blames him for the Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead.

The new visa regime will, for the first time, pave the way for group tourist visas. These could be a boon for Indians, especially Punjabis, who migrated to this side of the Radcliffe Line following Partition and are keen to visit the birthplace of their forefathers.

The regime will also be a blessing for pilgrims on both sides. For Sikhs, “hurdle-free darshan of Nankana Sahib” is part of the ‘ardaas’ in gurdwaras. The visa will be a major facilitator for businessmen, who have in the past six months been encouraged with the response at exhibitions in Lahore and New Delhi.

Detailing the new visa regime, Home Ministry spokesperson Ira Joshi said, “The revised agreement inter-alia introduces the concept of group tourist visa, visa on arrival and a separate category of business visas.” Minute details of the visa and the safeguards on both sides will be addressed by the respective intelligence agencies.

IB Director Nehchal Sandhu is also part of the delegation along with National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General SC Sinha. The NIA is the prosecuting agency in the Mumbai attacks case.

The last round of Home Secretary/Interior Secretary talks were held in New Delhi in March 2011. The joint statement had identified cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism, progress in bringing the fugitives of the Mumbai terror attacks case to justice and a revised bilateral visa agreement as some of the priorities.

The broad agenda of talks will include terrorism, fugitives from Indian law, narcotics and humanitarian issues such as the release of Indian fishermen and civilians languishing in jails in Pakistan.

The two-day dialogue comes soon after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s April 8 visit. During their meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stressed the need for Pakistan to take firm action to curb terrorism for positive forward movement in the bilateral relationship. The PM had told Zardari to bring perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice and prevent anti-India activities from Pakistani soil.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120524/main5.htm