Bashir's visa hassles linked to rules tightened by India after 26/11 terror attack

New Delhi: The hassles the British cricketer of Pakistani heritage, Shoaib Bashir, experienced to get the visa for his travel to India has its origin in the measures New Delhi had introduced in 2010 after it had come to light that American terror plotter David Headley had visited Mumbai several times to help plan the 26/11 carnage.

The governments of the United Kingdom and the United States often conveyed to New Delhi their concerns over the hassles British and American citizens with ancestral roots in Pakistan had to experience to get visas for travel to India. New Delhi, however, steadfastly argued over the years that its 2009-10 move to tighten the rules for issuing visas was guided by the national security interests of India.

After the delay in issuing a visa to Bashir for his travel to Hyderabad for England’s first test with India hit the headlines, a spokesperson of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that London had in the past asked New Delhi to treat all UK citizens fairly at all times while processing their requests for travel documents. “We have previously raised issues of British citizens with Pakistani heritage…we’ve raised the issues that some have raised about their experience applying for visas with the Indian High Commission in London,” The Guardian quoted the spokesperson of 10 Downing Street.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested David Coleman Headley, a US citizen born in Washington DC to a diplomat from Pakistan and his wife, from Chicago in 2009. It had subsequently come to light that he had managed to get a multiple entry visa issued by the Consulate General of India in Chicago and he had used it to visit Mumbai at least on five occasions to scout the city and help the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba to plan the November 26-28, 2008, terrorist attacks, which had left 166 killed and countless other injured. Headley had also managed to travel to New Delhi in March 2009 without raising a red flag in the radars of the security agencies. Headley’s friend Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani Canadian, had also visited Mumbai before the 26/11 carnage.

New Delhi had in December 2009 tightened rules for issuing multiple-entry long-term visas. Besides, it had also made it mandatory for its missions to get clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi before issuing visas to any foreigner with ancestral roots in Pakistan. The process to get clearance from the MHA in New Delhi can take up to 90 days.

The latest India-UK consular dialogue took place in London last week. K J Srinivasa, the Joint Secretary (Consular, Passport and Visa) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi, led the delegation of India. The UK delegation was led by Jennifer Anderson, Consular Director at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the British government. The two sides held extensive discussions on consular, visa and other important matters and stressed increasing people-to-people interaction, according to the High Commission of India in London.

It is however not clear whether Anderson took up with Srinivasa the specific case of delay in issuing the visa to Bashir for his travel to India to play for England. 

Not only Bashir, but other cricketers – like Moeen Ali and Saqib Mahmood of England and Usman Khawaja of Australia – had also experienced similar hassles in the past after applying for visas to travel to India.