No Indian tourist visa ‘anytime soon’

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma yesterday once again cleared his country’s position not to resume tourist visas for Bangladeshis anytime soon.

The envoy said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka was issuing visas only on emergency cases.

Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry, said at a briefing on Thursday that the country currently has limited visa operations in Bangladesh and visas are only being issued for medical and emergency reasons.

He also said India would resume full visa operations when law and order improved, and the situation became conducive for India.

Verma yesterday came up with similar remarks after meeting with Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin.

He faced questions about the timeframe for resuming Indian visa operations on a full scale.

The Indian envoy cited a shortage of manpower as the reason behind issuing visas only to those who need them on an emergency basis for medical purposes.

He also said the high commission was prioritising visas for those who want to travel to his country to apply for a third country’s visa.

The issuance of tourist visas would resume when the activities of the high commission normalised, Verma added.

The Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) has been closed since the fall of the Awami League government on August 5. It later started operations on a limited scale. The Indian High Commission in Bangladesh has returned nearly 20,000 passports of Bangladeshi visa applicants in that time.

When his attention was drawn to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is staying in India, the Indian envoy said he did not discuss the issue with Secretary Jashim. The meeting was a regular one, Verma said.

He said they focused on advancing mutual cooperation in line with the shared aspirations of both Bangladesh and India for peace, security, and development, reports BSS.

“The meeting was more about how we can take forward our relations in the coming days,” Verma said. Both sides emphasised the importance of reinvigorating regular bilateral mechanisms to address key issues, he added.

The foreign ministry in a press release elaborated on the bilateral issues discussed in the meeting.

The issues included progress in the return of the Indian workforce in a few LOC projects, the current state of Indian visa operations, renewal of the Revised Travel Arrangement, and meetings of regular bilateral mechanisms, including the Foreign Office Consultations.

They also discussed early consular access for Indian fishermen who were detained in Bangladesh last week, and the repatriation of Bangladeshi fishermen held by the Indian authorities in mid-September, said the release.