Eye Opener: An Indian-American Visits Pakistan

[JonAsad]

All of it being true, of-course. The article indirectly implies--" You cannot have a 'good' experience in Pakistan without armed security and guides ".

A typical back packer might get killed without armed protection or honest guides.

a typical foreign tourist women in india- will get raped by the host indians-
what does that imply?-
Protection of tourist is a states responcibility- why have dual standards?-

 

[scrumpy]

Both India and Pakistan should drop their ridiculous demands for getting a visa. More people should be allowed to travel between the 2 countries. This is the fastest, easiest and best way to normalise relations.

 

[Icarus]

All of it being true, of-course. The article indirectly implies--" You cannot have a 'good' experience in Pakistan without armed security and guides ".

A typical back packer might get killed without armed protection or honest guides.

If he had been attacked and the guards had saved him, then your line of argument would have been justified.
FYI, you stand a greater chance of being raped in South Africa than being involved in a terrorist related incident in Pakistan.

 

[Fazlu]

a typical foreign tourist women in india- will get raped by the host indians-
what does that imply?-
Protection of tourist is a states responcibility- why have dual standards?-

Its not 'typical' . Plenty of single foreign women back pack across India every day ( alone or in a group ) without getting 'raped' or 'harmed' .

I have even seen women (foreign and local ) walking around drunk late at night in places like goa, Bangalore and kerala without the slightest bit of care in the world.

And this--is excluding the vast number of foreign students in various universities across India. As for students---well, you can imagine.

And , for the author--It wasn't 'state protection'--rather-- the protection detail was provided by concerned friends.

State offers protection detail for every tourist in very few countries--like Somalia. Are you implying its the same in pakistan ?

 

[John Doe]

Just a few days ago I had lunch with a group of European Bikers that are globe trotting on Royal Enfields purchased from India complete with red license plates of some southern state.

Hey chief, what did you think of the Enfields? Did you like them? Are these classic type bikes popular in Pak?
About the red numberplates, nowhere in India will you find those. Most likely they were registered in Nepal, which have red plates with non-English lettering.

a typical foreign tourist women in india- will get raped by the host indians-
what does that imply?-
Protection of tourist is a states responcibility- why have dual standards?-

Really? "Will get raped" ? All of them? New depths, even for you.....

If that was the case, your neighbour would be a millionaire by now. He could sue the German Government on basis of racial discrimination and win millions in damages. No country in this world can refuse a visa based on the characteristics you are describing, its against the universally accepted principles of sovereign responsible states.

Have you ever, ever gone for a visa interview? Ever?
Is any consul officer obliged to give a reason for why he is rejecting you? Its completely upto them, if they want to, they will ask for additional docs.

One example, my wife was in the Mumbai comsulate ( American) for her visa extension. She chatted for hours with a very sweet and well educated Muslim girl who came there dressed in a salwar and a head scarf. Her husband was in the US and she wanted to join him. What do you know? She got rejected. On her way out, a couple of other ladies asked her to come back in nice Western professional clothes.

 

[Bang Galore]

I zeroed in on that as well. He had armed guards flanking him since the time he set foot outside the airport.

Its obviously not a 'typical' experience.

This inspite of the fact that he did not reveal his "Indian" identity.

and rarely revealed my ethnic background to most of the new people I met.

Congraulations you have finally found a line that will help you propagate and carry your skewed hate laden agenda forward- Bravo you have validated your existance--

Easy pal...you are going to give yourself a heart attack if you get this uppity about stuff . That line was incongruous; I pointed it out. I'm sure Pakistanis are nice chaps (even you), sure that Pakistan would be a great place to visit, the food would be delicious & so on. I'm not given to personal hatred of any group -Pakistanis or even Pakistan the country. Your "state"(or state within a state, if you prefer) is another matter entirely and I have made no bones about my feelings on that score. However it would be silly not to expect that this line would not render the whole premise of the author's "normal" holiday, a bit suspect!

 

[Rafi]

We are very hospitable people, a guest is a guest after all, could have predicted the indian "piles" - glad to be proven right once again, a positive Pakistani story is anathema to them.

 

[GEMINI]

Hey chief, what did you think of the Enfields? Did you like them? Are these classic type bikes popular in Pak?
About the red numberplates, nowhere in India will you find those. Most likely they were registered in Nepal, which have red plates with non-English lettering.



Really? "Will get raped" ? All of them? New depths, even for you.....



Have you ever, ever gone for a visa interview? Ever?
Is any consul officer obliged to give a reason for why he is rejecting you? Its completely upto them, if they want to, they will ask for additional docs.

One example, my wife was in the Mumbai comsulate ( American) for her visa extension. She chatted for hours with a very sweet and well educated Muslim girl who came there dressed in a salwar and a head scarf. Her husband was in the US and she wanted to join him. What do you know? She got rejected. On her way out, a couple of other ladies asked her to come back in nice Western professional clothes.

May be the example you quoted is right, but that cannot be called a general rule. Look I am a pakistani, in the age band of 30-50, have a beard and have visited half the Europe and other countries in recent years. Nobody denied any visa. No body questioned me anything. Note that my passport has two recent Saudi arabian entries also. So may be the lady who was rejected the visa might have any other flaw in the documents.

 

[Icarus]

Hey chief, what did you think of the Enfields? Did you like them? Are these classic type bikes popular in Pak?

They were beasts! 500cc of pure muscle! Yeah bikes are really popular here.

About the red numberplates, nowhere in India will you find those. Most likely they were registered in Nepal, which have red plates with non-English lettering.

The shoe fits, red and written in some Indian script. Probably registered in Nepal then.

Are Nepal registered vehicles allowed to move in India without refrigeration? Can they be sold on the same registration?

 

[Jackdaws]

If that was the case, your neighbour would be a millionaire by now. He could sue the German Government on basis of racial discrimination and win millions in damages. No country in this world can refuse a visa based on the characteristics you are describing, its against the universally accepted principles of sovereign responsible states. Most probably your neighbour got rejected on not showing proper bank statements or proving without a doubt that he will indeed return back to India. He might have messed up in the interview. When things go wrong, people make 1000 excuses but never admit their own shortcomings.



What a moron

Thats equivalent to saying 'please kidnap me'.

Actually, you can be denied a visa on any grounds and you can't sue anyone for that. They don't even have to give you any reasons.

They were beasts! 500cc of pure muscle! Yeah bikes are really popular here.



The shoe fits, red and written in some Indian script. Probably registered in Nepal then.

Are Nepal registered vehicles allowed to move in India without refrigeration? Can they be sold on the same registration?

The law explicitly states that all vehicles have to be registered in India; else you need an NOC from the state traffic authority. They were recently cracking down on cars in Bombay having number plates in Hindi/Marathi - they need to be in Roman script. This is because if the car is driven down to the South - the South Indian cops will most likely not understand the script and if the script was in one of the South Indian languages it would cause a problem here. Some guy recently created a scare because his car had Dubai number plates - the bomb squad was called. On extremely rare occasions you will see a car with European plates - they must have an NoC or might belong to some Consulate.

 

[Rhino]

Nepal is like a defacto state of india....vehicles from india nepal can move in eachothers land freely same like bhutan... Nepalese citizens in india can enjoy all the economic and educational benefits that an indian enjoys except voting rights and land ownership...

 

[Paan Singh]

a typical foreign tourist women in india- will get raped by the host indians-
what does that imply?-
Protection of tourist is a states responcibility- why have dual standards?-

prsently there are 2 foreign womens working in office here
One of them is going back to their respective country after 3 days...

so ur rant fails here

 

[Bang Galore]

May be the example you quoted is right, but that cannot be called a general rule. Look I am a pakistani, in the age band of 30-50, have a beard and have visited half the Europe and other countries in recent years. Nobody denied any visa. No body questioned me anything. Note that my passport has two recent Saudi arabian entries also. So may be the lady who was rejected the visa might have any other flaw in the documents.

Probably not typical but I did have an odd experience in the U.K. A few years back when I went in via Dubai, soon after the immigration counter I was stopped by a very polite cop who wanted to ask me some questions. He seemed to lose interest once he saw my passport but after asking a couple of routine questions, actually asked what my religion was. He then quickly moved on to where I might have traveled & only perked up when he heard Africa to lose interest when he figured it was South Africa. He finally asked me whether I had ever been to Afghanistan and/or Pakistan. I actually guffawed (in surprise) & said that I didn't think they were very fond of Indians in Pakistan. He smiled broadly, wished me & that was the end of that. Probably an atypical experience but it does happen.

 

[Icarus]

The law explicitly states that all vehicles have to be registered in India; else you need an NOC from the state traffic authority. They were recently cracking down on cars in Bombay having number plates in Hindi/Marathi - they need to be in Roman script. This is because if the car is driven down to the South - the South Indian cops will most likely not understand the script and if the script was in one of the South Indian languages it would cause a problem here. Some guy recently created a scare because his car had Dubai number plates - the bomb squad was called. On extremely rare occasions you will see a car with European plates - they must have an NoC or might belong to some Consulate.

Thanks for the info. That's quite similar to what we have here. Consulates, Embassies and Diplomatic Missions (also the UN) are issued special registration plates Red for Dimplomats and Blue for UN. Foreign plates maybe used for a specified amount of time after the car has been imported but after 6 months at most, the owner is legally bound to get his car registered locally. There is a different system for FATA where non-custom paid vehicles are legal and are issued license plates by the local political admin. However, if the said car is found outside the agency where the plates were issued, then the car is impounded until it is registered with the central authority.

 

[cyphercide]

Good read. More people to people contact and more business is the way forward, not CORE issues.

The people-to-people contact route to ensuring peace has always been a googly to my,perhaps limited,understanding. What is the use of mopping up bad blood from visible sight so that citizens of both nations do enjoy some picture perfect moments for an intermittent period. This will only last till the next terror attack falls through and then we are back to square one and sabre rattling.

Instead, let prevailing peace(that both countries work on their own side)determine the level of people-to-people contact. That would seem like a long term fix.