India’s Minister for External Affairs Mr S M Krishna is due in Pakistan today. He is carrying the message of India’s “serious intent” to resolve outstanding bilateral issues through dialogue in a “terror and violence-free atmosphere”. This is what Mr Krishna told the media back home about his impending visit to Pakistan and the outcome he foresees ensuing from the trip. All eyes are set on the signing of the much awaited visa liberalisation policy by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and her counterpart S M Krishna. Pakistan had been demanding the initiation of such an important policy at the political level and the visit of Mr Krishna has been hinted at as the best occasion to seal the agreement. Relations between India and Pakistan have improved considerably in spite of terrorism blighting the peace and confidence building process intermittently. The business community on both sides of the border have come a long way in improving trade relations by way of opening channels of investment, decisions to set up banks in each other’s countries and doing away with the negative list in Pakistan. Lately there has been increased movement across the border by people from different walks of life to enhance the quality of contact and mutual relations. There is only one hitch in this incremental process that underscores the importance of moving forward with the liberalisation of the visa regime by both countries, not for any particular group but for everybody, and more so for journalists and the media community. Experience shows that frequent interaction between peoples shifts the focus from enmity to affection and understanding. If media people are given the opportunity to move freely and exchange ideas and information with one another, the information flowing both ways as a result would reduce the trust deficit among not only the people but also the governments that have often slipped into periods of despondency resulting from lack of true and right information most of the time. So there is a need to not only liberalise the visa policy but to grant multiple entry one year visas exempted from police reporting and without the restrictions on entry and exit points to the media community on either side. In a recent meeting on the sidelines of the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, President Asif Ali Zardari and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed their desire to have friendly and neighbourly relations with each other. Friendliness and neighbourly affection is hard to come by when people are not allowed to meet frequently and without obstacles. It is now on both the governments to accomplish this relationship; citizens in both countries have played their part. Going into a country with bottlenecks laid on every move, makes relations cumbersome and reinforces bad feelings.*