After a Pakistan court sentenced Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav to death, India is planning to escalate the diplomatic offensive by restricting visas only on humanitarian grounds, including medical reasons, to Pakistani citizens. The move comes after India decided to put all bilateral engagements with Pakistan on hold.
According to a DNA report, the Union government is planning to sharply reduce or even stop visas for all purposes other than medical and hospitalisation. Such a decision will hit Pakistani citizens’ travel to India for leisure, tourism, cultural exchanges, including cinema and sports.
The government is also planning to review business and religious pilgrimage visas offered to Pakistani citizens. Earlier, the norms in these categories were relaxed to a great extent by the government.
Not only the government is planning to stop visas, it has said no to playing Hockey with Pakistan and has called off the maritime talks with the neighbouring country.
Earlier, Minister of External Affairs – Sushma Swaraj had announced in Parliament that India will go to any extent to provide justice to Jadhav.
India has never taken diplomatic escalation to such a level, even during Kargil conflict and 1971 war, the annual engagements like meeting of Water Commissioners on Indus water treaty went on as usual, suggested the report.
Meanwhile, in what could add to the tension, Police in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir claimed on Saturday, arresting three suspected Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agents for their alleged involvement in anti-state activities.
According to the report, Pakistan police has said that the main suspect Khalil had visited Kashmir in November 2014, where he came in contact with RAW officials. The three suspects were allegedly involved in a bomb blast outside a police station in Abbaspur in September.
