Visa reins in Pak cricket fans

Centre will be judicious while issuing permits due to security concerns

CHANDIGARH: While about half a dozen Pakistani nationals, who had come to see the cricket match between India and Pakistan last year are still reported missing, the Centre has  decided not to be liberal with Pakistanis when they come to watch Pakistan play at the ICC Champion’s trophy.

Pakistan plays New Zealand and South Africa on October 25 and 27.

India’s caution has been also prompted by the fact that among those who did not return to Pakistan last year, three were found to be agents of the Pakistan intelligence agencies. One of them was arrested in Jalandhar, another in Gurdaspur and the third one was picked up from Kolkata. Two others were repatriated later, even as seven of them still remain untraced.

Imposing severe restriction on the sanction of visas, the Centre has asked the police to keep a close vigil on the movement and whereabouts of the visitors. As against more than 2,500 Pakistanis getting visas last time, the foreign ministry would not provide more than 500 visas this time. The number can be extended to 1,000 provided the Punjab Cricket Association or the BCCI makes special arrangements for their stay.

The Pakistani visitors would also be issued “police reporting visas” in order to keep their movements under check, whereby they would be required to report to the local police about their arrival and place of stay.

In a communication, the Union home ministry has directed the Punjab government not to allow any Pakistani to halt anywhere in Punjab on their way from the Wagha border to Mohali. Last time, the Pakistani cricket fans were allowed to move around in Amritsar and other parts of Punjab, the visitors would be picked up and escorted by the police to their places of stay in Chandigarh and Mohali. Visas would be granted only to those Pakistanis who have confirmed accomodation and have purchased tickets for the matches.

Last year one of the Pakistani nationals, Ali Mohammad, who came as a cricket lover, was arrested along with another Pakistan national, Khuram Shazad, in Jalandhar. Both of them are suspected to be the ISI agents and had been working in tandem.

The police said that Ali Mohammad, who entered India as a cricket buff to see the Indo-Pak tie, in fact hurried through to meet his alleged counterpart in Jalandhar without ever going to see the cricket match. Officials said the two Pakistan nationals, suspected to be the ISI agents, were arrested at the behest of the inputs provided by the Army intelligence.

Both of them had been living in Jalandhar in a rented accomodation in a thickly-populated area. The police believe that the other missing Pakistan nationals might as well be hiding in the state, purportedly to liase with the J&K militants.

The Jalandhar police have been receiving information about the J&K militants coming to the city, sometimes on the pretext of getting medical aid. Official sources said that 11,342 Pakistanis have gone missing in the last three years after they entered Indian through the Samjhauta Express train coming from Lahore to Amritsar.

It is believed that most of them might have settled down here with their relatives, even after their visas expired, yet the possibility of some of them being ISI agents and getting absorbed here could not be ruled out.