Memorandum to Hon. P. Chidambaram, Home Minister of India re: New Visa Restrictions on Pakistan-born Indian Americans

Sub: Indian American passport holders born in Pakistan should be excluded from new visa rules.


A delegation led by Narain Kataria, President, Indian American Intellectuals Forum, VP Arish Sahani, Ramesh Gathodia, Mohinder Singh Gulati and Nand Lal Ramsinghani called on Dr. A.M. Gondane, Dy. Consul General and submitted the enclosed Memorandum addressed to Hon. P. Chidambaram, Home Minister of India. The delegation requested Dr. Gondane to make sure that new visa rules are not applied to Pakistan-born Indian Americans.

Dr. Gondane gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured the delegation that necessary action as deemed fit will be taken in the matter.

Narain Kataria

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INDIAN AMERICAN INTELLECTUALS FORUM
41-67 Judge Street, Suite 5P
Elmhurst, New York 11373
(718) 478-5735/(718) 271-0453
Katarian@aol.com

Memorandum to Hon. P. Chidambaram, Home Minister of India

c/o Consul General of India December 14, 2009
3 E. 64th Street
New York, NY 10021

Sub: Indian American passport holders born in Pakistan
should be excluded from new visa rules.

Hon. P. Chidambaram: Saadar Namaskar

In view of the busting of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s plot in which the Pakistan based terrorist group was planning to use Pakistan-born US national David Coleman (Dawood Geelani) to launch terrorist attacks in India, Government of India has directed all the missions that all applications for Indian visas from Pakistan-born US national be cleared by New Delhi.

This is a very judicious move and will go a long way in checkmating the diabolical and pernicious designs of the radical Islamic terrorists based in Pakistan, and strengthening safety and security of Indian nationals. However, there is a flaw in this decision. This decision treats Pakistan-born Pakistani-Americans and Pakistan-born Indian-Americans on equal footing. We feel that this decision will adversely affect thousands of Indian American passport holders born in Pakistan.

If hurriedly implemented, this decision could create a lot of problems for Pakistan-born Indian Americans who frequently travel to India on business and pleasure trips. In addition to that Pakistan-born Indian Americans could feel punished for no fault of their own. This anomaly has to be addressed at an early date

Hence, we request you to kindly reconsider your decision and exempt Indian American passport holders born in Pakistan from the purview of this directive.

Very truly yours,

Narain Kataria
President
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Indian American Intellectuals Forum is organized and existing under the laws of the Sate of New York since 1999. It aims at strengthening Indo-American relationship. It also organizes seminars and educates citizens about the menace of terrorism.