No visa for Altaf Hussain

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 8. The chief of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) of Pakistan, Mr. Altaf Hussian, has not applied for a visa to visit India, according to knowledgeable sources. ``We will not grant him the visa, even if an application were made,'' a senior official said, reacting to reports that the MQM leader could be visiting India ``soon''. The reports had quoted Mr. Hussain expressing a desire to visit his ancestral home in Agra.

According to the sources, any attempt to grant visa to Mr. Hussain would be seen as unbecoming tit-for-tat (for Pakistan's attempt to ``invite'' the All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders to meet the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf) and would be perceived as an attempt to sabotage the Agra summit, something India does not want.

From the Indian perspective, the issue in the ``invite'' for the APHC is simple: ``it is violative of the very principles of international diplomacy and the protocol of a bilateral summit''. The Indian side has gone out of its way to roll out the red carpet and the protocol book is being followed to the last comma.

And yet, the visiting President does not want to respect the sensitivities of the hosts. Knowledgeable sources point that it would be so easy for the host to prevent the APHC leaders physically from travelling to the Pakistani High Commission, but that perhaps is the Pakistani calculation. Any such move would be lapped up by the international media, the valley press, which till the other day was ridiculing the APHC leaders, would now portray them as ``victims'' of Indian high- handedness.

Knowledgeable sources note that nothing ``earthshaking'' would happen should these five APHC leaders shake hands with Gen. Musharraf. There is nothing new or special these leaders could tell the visiting President which they do not talk with the Pakistani High Commissioner in their routine visits or with ``Brigadier Abdullah'', whenever the APHC executive meets in Srinagar.

Yet the basic question for New Delhi is whether the Pakistan President cares for his Indian hosts' sensitivities. And there are limits to the hosts' indulgence, the sources note grimly.

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