Natwar says we will relax visas for Pak press; ditto, Kasuri

At first, both Singh and Kasuri decided they would not speak. But called upon to open up the frontiers for newspapers, magazines and TV channels by SAFMA president Imtiaz Alam, Singh set the tone for the evening by promising that India would allow Pakistani journalists to travel without visas—and that he and National Security Adviser J N Dixit, who was present on the occasion, would work on Home minister Shivraj Patil to see the benefits.

Kasuri was not to be left behind. He had also visited the shrine of the Sufi saint at Ajmer Sharief during the day and after the last couple of days of talks, where he had strongly put Pakistan’s view forward on the Kashmir ‘‘dispute,’’ had also committed Islamabad to stay the course in the long and difficult dialogue process.

So when he took the podium, it was to say that his country would reciprocate in full measure if India was able to pull off its proposal. Kasuri pointed out that when SAFMA brought a team of Indian parliamentarians and the media to Pakistan last August, it was he who persuaded President Musharraf to receive them—with such dramatic results.