Apply 3 days before journey to Pak for visa-on-arrival

 The visa-on-arrival facility for senior citizens eager to visit Pakistan is likely to lose its charm since an individual is now required to apply online at least three days before the journey.

The service, initially launched on January 15 amid much fanfare, was discontinued within hours following a stalemate over beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistani troops near the Line of Control. Resumption of the service on April 1, however, did not elicit an overwhelming response either.

According to experts, the move might discourage senior citizens since it tends to dilute the very concept of visa-on-arrival. Earlier, applicants could just walk in with essential documents to travel to the other side of the border through Attari in Punjab.

Immigration sources at the Attari border told Deccan Herald that the initiative has turned out to be a damp squib and found no takers, either from Pakistan or from India, ever since it was relaunched.

Peace activist and Chandigarh-based columnist Chanchal Manohar Singh, who was the only Indian senior citizen to have made use of the facility on January 15, shortly before it was scrapped, said a more liberal approach by both sides was required to ease out existing bottlenecks. “Online visa application system is an unfriendly initiative. This will discourage people from using this facility. Not many are tech savvy,” he said. Moreover, a sponsor is mandatory, but all people willing to travel do not have one.

“Senior citizens above the age of 65 years are unlikely to be in the best of health, which is why they would require another person to travel with them to assist during their journey and stay,” Singh said. The existing facility allows only the spouse and children below 12 years of age to accompany a senior citizen.

“This needs to be made more functional and flexible. Since identity cards of sponsors and travelers in Pakistan are in Urdu, the Indian immigration authorities have made it mandatory that the documents are translated in English and attested by a local magistrate, which again is not a friendly initiative,” he added.

The existing visa regime bars eligible Pakistani senior citizens to stay in Punjab, which is where a majority of them have their ancestral roots. “People in both Punjabs on either side of the border have a very high emotional quotient,” said Singh.