Natwar may decide to use visa power in Lahore today

Visa power has been the most potent instrument in India’s diplomatic quiver in Pakistan. Yet New Delhi has been reluctant to leverage the desire of thousands of Pakistanis to travel across the border.

Ultra-cautious policies driven by excessive considerations of security have prevented India from playing the trump card of opening the doors to Pakistani visitors.

To be sure, the Vajpayee government experimented with a few initiatives to liberalise the visa regime towards Pakistan. But they were too small to make a difference on the ground.

Natwar Singh could now consolidate these moves by announcing a major unilateral move to deepen people-to-people contact between the two countries.

In the run up to Singh’s visit to Pakistan, it is believed, the government had considered a series of unilateral gestures on visa liberalisation. The impending visit by the Pakistani cricket team, the first full tour in nearly six years, in any case warrants some signals from India about its readiness to offer generous access to the Pakistani cricket fans.

Beyond the considerations of cricket diplomacy, India has an interest in encouraging straightforward tourism from Pakistan. Until now the notion of a tourist visa has had little salience in Indo-Pak relations.

India and Pakistan now grant visas to citizens to visit their relatives or for specific purposes like attending conferences or traveling to holy shrines. This leaves out large numbers of people who have no relatives across the border, especially the Punjabis.

In Lahore, the heart of Punjab, Natwar Singh has an opportunity to address this powerful constituency by offering better access to India. Encouraging group tourism and designating specific tour operators who get the cream of tourism business along with the responsibility to ensure visa compliance could be a perfect way of marrying commercial interest with security considerations.

Besides encouraging group tourism in large numbers, Natwar Singh can also come up with new categories like student visas. Even more important he might want to expand visa-free travel to many more sections. Similarly, visa on arrival too could be considered for a many types of visitors. New Delhi could also consider dispensing with the practice of single city visas for most Pakistanis.

The attractive thing for India about visa diplomacy is that it can be put in place unilaterally. Unlike in most other areas where agreements have to be negotiated with Pakistan, travel is one area where India can change the rules of the game on its own. For Natwar Singh in Lahore, it is a moment to think positively and act unilaterally.