New Delhi , April 5: India is making it mandatory for all persons travelling to this country from Pakistan to disclose whether they have changed their name and surname, and whether their grandfather or grandmother (paternal/maternal) are Pakistani nationals or belong to a Pakistan-held area. They would also be required to disclose their current/previous nationality, besides the country of birth.
After hectic deliberations among various government agencies following the David Headley episode, the Union home ministry has come out with an online Indian visa form for the Indian high commission in Islamabad, which the applicant would be required to fill online for quick scrutiny by Indian intelligence agencies. The new system has come into effect from April 1. It will be gradually extended to other Indian missions abroad, government sources said.
“Any person seeking a visa from the Indian mission in Islamabad will have to fill the online application form and submit the relevant documents. Such online information will be available to all Central agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, RAW and state government agencies, which will be required to give their report after scrutinising the forms,” an official said.
The official said that the volume of persons travelling from Pakistan to India is large, and the process of giving clearance to visa applications was time-consuming.
The government decided to revisit the visa rules to bring changes to enable the security agencies detect persons disguising their real names or original nationality after Headley alias Daood Gilani travelled to India six times in the 2006-2009 period to do a recce of potential targets for the 26/11 terror attack. Indian agencies were clueless about Headley’s original identity and Pakistani connections when he travelled to India undetected in that period. Headley, who is in US custody, has admitted that he participated in the planning of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
The government is also considering changes in visa rules for countries falling under the “prior reference” category, where Indian missions are required to route visa forms through New Delhi for security reasons. Government sources said Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are likely to be taken off this list of countries, which includes Pakistan, Iran, China and Afghanistan.
Namrata Biji Ahuja