NEW DELHI: The agenda of a liberalized visa regime between India and Pakistan, that external affairs minister S M Krishna's has gone to finalize with his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, has begun on an illiberal note.
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday denied visa to the resident editor of English daily The Hindu after giving him long and didactic lectures on how September 11 and 26/11 were American conspiracies and how America was a common enemy to both India and Pakistan.
This is not for the first time that Pakistan has denied visas to Indian journalists. Earlier, Pakistan refused visa to Times Now journalist Nikunj Garg on the eve of the then union home minister P. Chidambaram's visit to Pakistan. Chidambaram at the time put his foot down and Garg was granted the visa at the eleventh hour.
However, no such protest was made by the Indian government on Thursday when Pakistan denied visa to journalist Praveen Swami, an expert on strategic and security issues. He was a member of a large media delegation accompanying the external affairs minister to Pakistan.
Swami has written extensively on insurgencies and terror networks in India and was nominated by his newspaper for the media delegation. His visa application along with his documents were forwarded to the Pakistan High Commission by the external affairs ministry. The journalist received his passport with a stamped visa but crossed and canceled.
Swami told the TOI that he was called by the High Commission early this week for a meeting with Press Attache Manzoor Ali Memon that lasted for over an hour after two Pakistani officials, who did not share their visiting cards with him, dropped in. "I was asked no questions but instead handed out sermons by the two on how Indian and Pakistani media could join hands to counter American conspiracies," Swami said.
The journalist gave them a patient audience and told them that he was ignorant about the revelations they had made about "American plots" and he "would love to catch up on the wikileaks evidence against America they were referring to."
At the end of the meeting, Swami was gifted a book of poetry by Ahmad Faraz and non-fiction 'Pakistan from mountain to sea' by Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts and Brendan Farrow.
Indian journalist denied Pak visa, told 26/11 American conspiracy - The Times of India
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday denied visa to the resident editor of English daily The Hindu after giving him long and didactic lectures on how September 11 and 26/11 were American conspiracies and how America was a common enemy to both India and Pakistan.
This is not for the first time that Pakistan has denied visas to Indian journalists. Earlier, Pakistan refused visa to Times Now journalist Nikunj Garg on the eve of the then union home minister P. Chidambaram's visit to Pakistan. Chidambaram at the time put his foot down and Garg was granted the visa at the eleventh hour.
However, no such protest was made by the Indian government on Thursday when Pakistan denied visa to journalist Praveen Swami, an expert on strategic and security issues. He was a member of a large media delegation accompanying the external affairs minister to Pakistan.
Swami has written extensively on insurgencies and terror networks in India and was nominated by his newspaper for the media delegation. His visa application along with his documents were forwarded to the Pakistan High Commission by the external affairs ministry. The journalist received his passport with a stamped visa but crossed and canceled.
Swami told the TOI that he was called by the High Commission early this week for a meeting with Press Attache Manzoor Ali Memon that lasted for over an hour after two Pakistani officials, who did not share their visiting cards with him, dropped in. "I was asked no questions but instead handed out sermons by the two on how Indian and Pakistani media could join hands to counter American conspiracies," Swami said.
The journalist gave them a patient audience and told them that he was ignorant about the revelations they had made about "American plots" and he "would love to catch up on the wikileaks evidence against America they were referring to."
At the end of the meeting, Swami was gifted a book of poetry by Ahmad Faraz and non-fiction 'Pakistan from mountain to sea' by Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts and Brendan Farrow.
Indian journalist denied Pak visa, told 26/11 American conspiracy - The Times of India
looks like entire pakistan lives on the same page called "its all conspiracy" 
