No visa camps until India agrees to raise mission strength: Pak

In A setback to India8217;s plans to run visa camps in places like Karachi to meet the surging rush for visas, Pakistan today said it would agree for such a proposal only after India agrees to restore full strength in the respective diplomatic missions in Islamabad and New Delhi.

It has been conveyed on numerous occasions to India that permission to visa camps is directly linked to restoration of normal strength in the High Commissions of both the countries, a statement by the Pakistan Foreign Office here said. Reacting to assertions by Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon yesterday that his mission was awaiting permission from Pakistan government for a visa camp in Karachi to meet the rush, it said the existing strength of the respective missions in New Delhi and Islamabad was barely sufficient to cope with visa requests in respective capitals.

Setting up visa camps in other cities would further delay processing visa requests in Islamabad where the waiting period is almost 6-8 months, it said.

8216;8216;The government of Pakistan would certainly consider setting up visa camps on reciprocal basis when the India government agrees to increase the mission8217;s strength,8217;8217; it said.

The staff strength in each of the missions at present is around 60 and Pakistan wanted it to take it up to 110, which was the original strength when India pulled out half of its staff in protest in the aftermath of the attack on Parliament in December 2002. 8212; PTI