Chandigarh, January 11
Expressing fears about security, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has put a spoke in the wheel of the yet-to-begin Amritsar-Lahore-Nankana Sahib bus service by equating Punjab with Kashmir. The Home Ministry has made it mandatory for passengers travelling by this bus between India and Pakistan to get security clearance from the Punjab Police.
The Punjab Government has lodged a protest with the MHA, demanding that this condition of security clearance by the police should be waived. Punjab was taken off the list of “ disturbed areas” in the country way back in 1997.
Starting this bus service was a dream project of the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the issue of security clearance could be exploited by the Akalis in the coming elections, saying that Punjabis and Sikhs were still viewed with suspicion by the Government of India, sources in the Punjab Government said. A direct bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib was being hailed as a huge effort of the Congress government to provide unrestricted access to Sikh shrines in Pakistan. The security clearance could take the sheen off the bus service scheduled to start in the last week of January.
Punjab’s opinion is that obtaining such clearance will take up to a month for a passenger. This is normally done at the “thana” level, but an SSP or DIG-level officer screens applicants. These procedures would be a source of harassment for members of the public. Also, it will be difficult for the Punjab Police to get security clearance done in the case of persons hailing from other parts of the country like Haryana and Himachal Pradesh or even NRIs holding British, US or Canadian passports but valid visas for Pakistan. People in adjoining states and NRIs could form a huge chunk of the passengers.
Kashmir is the only other place in the country where security clearance is mandatory before boarding the bus to Pakistan. Kashmiris travelling on the Srinagar-Muzaffarbad bus — operating between India and Pakistan occupied Kashmir — need security clearance from the Jammu and Kashmir Police. The Intelligence Bureau, the Army and also agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing also screen the details.
The sources said the MHA had been reminded that no security clearance by the police was mandatory for the Delhi-Lahore bus service, the Samjhauta Express or even for passengers travelling by air between Delhi
