Scramble among scribes for visas to Pakistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 25. Perhaps never in recent times was the Pakistani visa in such great demand from Indian journalists. With the much- awaited India-Pakistan summit just over three weeks away, the Pakistan Government is flooded with requests from all the major Indian dailies, television networks and web sites. The requests are of two types. Those who want to come and camp in Pakistan to cover the run-up to the summit and those who want a one-to-one interview with the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

So far, 26 Indian journalists have sought interviews with Gen. Musharraf. Besides, 11 teams of television and print media journalists have applied for permission for a temporary visa to cover events in the run- up to the summit.

The dramatic events in the corridors of power in Islamabad leading to the coronation of Gen. Musharraf as the President has only added to the value of a Pakistani visa for the Indian scribes.

With the unexpected invite from the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, to Gen. Musharraf to visit India for a peace dialogue, Islamabad is a ``happening'' place for the Indian media. The last week drama has made the dateline Islamabad ``irresistible'' for the journalists from across the border.

But alas, travelling to Islamabad is not like taking the next available flight to any other destination in the world, particularly for Indians.

Barring the occasional visits by the Track-II and Track-III wallahs and lucky ones on both sides who somehow succeed in getting a visa for a visit to their friends and relatives, there is hardly any flow of traffic between the two sides.

Despite all the common past and shared present, there are just two Indian journalists functioning from the Pakistani capital. The strength of Pakistani journalists in New Delhi is reduced to just one after the correspondent of a leading Urdu daily retired from service last year.

The irony is that every thing between India and Pakistan, at least till recently, was on a reciprocal basis. The joke is that the principle of reciprocity is stretched to such ridiculous level that if the phone of the Indian scribe in Islamabad is out of order, it is bound to impact his counterpart in New Delhi. So the standard phrase of Pakistani authorities to all those who have sought a visa to travel to Islamabad is ``reciprocity.''

It appears that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has linked the question of issuance of visas to Indian journalists to treatment from India to Pakistani reporters wanting to travel to New Delhi. The Indian High Commission here maintains that so far, there is only one request for grant of visa from a Pakistani journalist. In addition, there are six requests from Pakistani journalists for an interview with Mr. Vajpayee.

``All these are under consideration. In principle, we have no objection to either allowing Pakistani journalists to travel to New Delhi or getting an opportunity to interview the Prime Minister,'' a senior official in the Indian High Commission said. To this, the retort of the Pakistani authorities is that ``we also have no objection in principle. Let things move in New Delhi. After all, India is 30 minutes behind Pakistan. The moment a decision is announced in New Delhi on facilitating the Pakistani media, we would suitably follow within half-an-hour''.

Pakistani authorities and the media have a grouse against India. While Gen. Musharraf and the Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, have granted many interviews to the Indian media in the last 18 months, there is not a single interview to the Pakistani media either by Mr. Vajpayee or the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh. But the Indian High Commission is quick to point out that there have been no requests from the Pakistani journalists in the last 18 months. The Pakistani journalists contest the claim.

And the debate goes on as journalists on both sides wait restlessly for the authorities to settle their ``differences'' and get down to serious business in the build-up to the summit.

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Section  : International
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