Indian Pakistani Bhai Bhai (at least with this group)
A hundred and sixty-seven Pakistanis arrived in Calcutta in late December for the Third Joint Convention of Pakistan-India People´s Forum for Peace and Democracy. How they arrived itself says something of the accelerating thaw in South Asian people´s affairs. Fully 142 of the 167 Pakistani participants arrived overland rather than by air, crossing over the Wagah border and then riding Indian railways across the breadth of North India to Calcutta. "In itself this is a historic event in the 50th year since Independence and Partition," said Deendayalan, one of the organisers of the meet.
The train was hours late checking into Howrah station, but the Pakistani guests told their hosts not to worry: "Yeh to bilhul hamara jaisay hai, sab thik hai." (Don´tworry, this is just like back home.)
Under Foreign Minister I.K. Gujral´s direction, the Pakistanis were given unprecedented visa privileges: they could visit eight Indian cities of their choice, and the requirement of reporting to the local police station in each was magnanimously waived.