NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's January 13-14 visit to Pakistan will not just be confined to handing over an invitation to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit here in April.

It will also provide him the opportunity to discuss bilateral relations with Gen. Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.

Given that this will be his first visit to Pakistan as External Affairs Minister, the atmospherics for Mr. Mukherjee's trip will be under close watch.

Also, it remains to be seen whether progress can be made on issues such as the re-opening of the Mumbai and Karachi consulates and commencement of the trans-Line of Control (LoC) truck service.

After an informal meeting with Mr. Kasuri on November 27 here, Mr. Mukherjee said he would have "substantive talks" during his January visit to Islamabad.

Nuclear accidents

South Block sources said that contrary to reports in a section of the press, an agreement on "Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons" was unlikely to be signed during Mr. Mukherjee's trip.

The agreement was "initialled" during the visit of Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan to New Delhi in November 2005. According to the sources, India could sign the agreement only after obtaining permission from the Union Cabinet.

The sources confirmed that Pakistan had responded to an Indian proposal for making changes to the existing visa agreement. Given that the Pakistani response has only just come in, a formal agreement is unlikely to be signed during Mr. Mukherjee's visit.

Restrictive visa regime

The visa regime is highly restrictive, and both national security establishments have been loath to liberalise it. At present, India and Pakistan issue city-specific and "police reporting" visas to a majority of applicants.

India presented a draft proposing changes to the September 1974 Visa Agreement to Pakistan in October 2005.

"The draft envisages longer duration visit visas for people from both countries and proposes the addition of new categories such as student, pilgrim and business visa, to facilitate easier movement of people across the border," the Government told the Lok Sabha in August last.

According to sources, India has also proposed a category of group tourist visas.

Currently, if you don't have a relative on either side of the border, travel is a very difficult proposition.

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