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India, Pakistan to discuss group tourism

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: A proposal to permit group tourism between India and Pakistan, and increasing the number of religious shrines that pilgrims from either country can visit on the other side, are on the agenda for the two-day talks between the two culture secretaries that will begin here on Thursday.

At present, India and Pakistan do not permit tourists from either country, but both sides recently included group tourism among proposals to liberalise their respective visa regimes.

Indian Culture Secretary Badal K. Das arrived here on Wednesday for the talks, which form part of the India-Pakistan composite dialogue process, now in its fourth round. The Indian delegation includes director-general, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Pavan K. Varma.

The talks are also likely to focus on cooperation in the fields of arts and culture, education and media.

As part of the composite dialogue process, Pakistan Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah will travel to New Delhi for a two-day counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics talks with the Indian Home Secretary on July 3 and 4.

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