External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday announced that India would grant the visas to all Pakistanis, who had already applied for the travel documents to come for medical treatment, but had not yet been issued the same. ANI Photo.
On the occasion of the Independence Day, New Delhi has decided to issue visas to all Pakistanis, who applied for the travel document to undergo medical treatment in India.
New Delhi has been very restrictive over the past few months in granting visas to Pakistanis seeking to undergo medical treatment in India. But External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday announced that India would grant the visas to all Pakistanis, who had already applied for the travel documents to come for medical treatment, but had not yet been issued the same.
“On the auspicious occasion of India’s Independence day, we will grant medical visa in all bonafide cases pending with us,” Swaraj posted on Twitter.
New Delhi has of late been insisting that all applications for visas for citizens of Pakistan to come to India to undergo medical treatment must be accompanied by a recommendation from Swaraj’s counterpart in the neighbouring country’s Government, the Foreign Minister.
The restrictive arrangement has been put in place after a military court in the neighbouring country sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, to death.
Swaraj’s erstwhile counterpart Sartaj Aziz, who was the advisor to the former Pakistan Prime Minister M Nawaz Sharif, however, did not issue any letter of recommendation to Pakistanis seeking medical visas to travel to India.
Some letters recommending issue of medical visas were issued by the officials in charge of the South Asia division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Government, but those were rejected by the High Commission of India in Islamabad.