The Hindu : National : Differences remain on reopening consulates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004

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National

Differences remain on reopening consulates

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, NOV. 22. The Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner, Munawar Saeed Bhatty, recently visited Mumbai to look at properties for Islamabad's Consulate, but differences remain on how to go about the reciprocal re-opening of the Mumbai and Karachi consulates.

It is five months since India and Pakistan decided to open their consulates but the much-awaited event is yet to happen. On June 28, the Foreign Secretaries said in a joint statement that a decision had been taken "in principle" to commence consular activities in the commercial capitals of India and Pakistan again.

A High Commission source said the External Affairs Ministry had merely put Mr. Bhatty in touch with a "property dealer" in Mumbai. "If we had wanted to meet property dealers, we could have done this on our own," the source said, expressing dissatisfaction with the help provided by the Government of India.

The External Affairs Ministry, however, stated that help had been extended to the Pakistan High Commission to view properties in Mumbai and to take a decision on where to locate the consulate.

"The ball is in the Pakistani court now," South Block officials said, pointing out that it was up to Islamabad to decide on leasing an appropriate property. "We are waiting for their decision to go ahead and re-open our consulate in Karachi."

On September 6, the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, were asked at a press conference in the capital when the consulates would be opened and whether there was need to set up a joint group to "implement" decisions that had already been taken by the two governments.

Mr. Singh said at the time: "I have spoken to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. We have requested our friends from Pakistan to visit Mumbai and to have a look at various properties because we would like to start this process of reopening our Consulate-General in Karachi and Mumbai as early as possible so that it will be more convenient for the citizens of both countries to be able to get their visas either in Mumbai instead of coming to Delhi, or in Karachi instead of going to Islamabad. So both sides are committed to it and the officials are already working."

On his part, Mr. Kasuri said: "When His Excellency, the [Indian] Foreign Minister visited Islamabad, we had agreed it is absolutely correct to have consulates in Karachi and Bombay [Mumbai]. And yes, we support that. There is no flagging in our intention or desire. The thing is, it is not hidden, that we had asked for Jinnah House. There was some problem as far as the Government of India was concerned and they offered alternative properties, which would be suitable for our purposes. Once that property, or those properties are shown to our High Commission here, I am sure an appropriate decision will be taken. That property has not so far been shown."

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