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Amid Row Over Kulbhushan Jadhav, Indian Government To Clamp Down On Visas For Pakistan Nationals

They plan to begin with a 'visible group' including artists and actors.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Even as the Government of India termed the death sentence against former navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav farcical, reports suggest that India may be going slow on giving visas to Pakistan nationals. Reports suggest that they may block also visas of Pakistani nationals, starting with actors, singers and other artists.

The Indian Express quoted sources as saying that while the idea was to block all visas, South Block allegedly wanted to first target a visible group of people to test waters.

Sources also told the newspaper that government officials have mulled over a blanket ban as well, but that would be difficult to implement in cases needing humanitarian intervention.

A Pakistan court had said earlier this week that former India Navy officer Jadhav would be hanged on charges of "espionage" and "sabotage".

India had retaliated by summoning Basit and issuing a demarche. The Times Of India hadquoted the demarche as saying, "The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Shri Jadhav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our High Commission was not even informed that Shri Jadhav was being brought to trial."

It further said, "If this sentence against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the Government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder."

Minister Of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had said this week in Parliament that the implications of the death sentence against Jadhav would show on the bilateral relationship between the two countries. "There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Kulbhushan Jadhav. This is an act of premeditated murder," Swaraj had said.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.