If there was a theme that dominated the first day of the Indo-Pak business conference, was the four-letter word: visa. Speakers from both sides of the border were at pain to point out that MFN, FDI would remain useless acronyms unless businesspersons from either side could meet each other easily.
Poetic Touch
Speaker after speaker quoted 'shayari' to buttress the fact that India and Pakistan need to trade more with each other. Pakistan PM Gilani quoted a couplet he had penned in college in Lahore. Adi Godrej quoted Alexander Pope and Sunil Munjal, his uncle. Einstein and Edmund Burke found mention too.
Missing 'K' Word
Conspicuously absent at the most high-profile meeting of businesspeople from India Pakistan ever, was the 'K' word. Nobody uttered it. The businesspersons naturally didn't say it. But neither did the high profile politicos and bureaucrats present. It does look as though Indo-Pak relationship will finally enter two-track mode with the economic track running independently of the political one.
Numbers Game
What is the potential size of the Indo-Pak trade in the near term? Depends on your optimism and how you can spin the numbers. Speakers came up with figures ranging from $5-billion to $10-billion , $12 billion to the massively optimistic $15-billion . For the record, the current figure stands at $2.7-billion .
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Dec 18: Pray for Peace DayWant to participate in a 'Prayers for Peace Between India and Pakistan Day'? Read on
By Swati Sharan
Their hostilit .....more
An elderly, bed-ridden man sentenced to life imprisonment in an 'enemy' country for a murder he didn't commit awaits the signature on his clemency petition.....more
A schoolboy is moved by the sight of brothers and sisters separated by a man-made border and a fast-flowing river, too loud to let them talk to each other. All they can d
.....more 
Ilmana FasihPanchee nadiya aur pawan ke jhonke, koi sarhad inhen na roke;
Sarhad to insanon ke liye hai, socho tumne aur meine kya paya insaan ho ke
(Birds, riv .....more
Why are visas denied to Indians who are married to Pakistanis - and vice versa?Huma Ahmar
Pakistanis have always faced problems obtaining visas to India - and .....more
Farida Singh, daughter of the Indian pilot shot down by the Pakistani pilot who sent herletter of condolence 46 years later, talks to
Srijana Mitra Das .....more
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The News on Sunday Special Report: India Pakistan prisoners
We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
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For the past 2 years the Jang Group and Geo have been working on a project of great national interest; one that we hope will help usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the country and indeed, in the region. And one that hopefully all Pakistanis can be proud of.
The Jang Group has entered into an agreement with the Times of India Group, the largest media group of India, to campaign for peace betw
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