Not the way to treat one’s nearest neighbour

It is unconceivable that the High Commissioner of India is unaware of the gross ill treatment meted out to Sri Lankans who seek to obtain a visa to enter India. People queue up at the Visa Office near Galle Face, in Colombo as early as 3 a.m. and eventually, they are taken in at 9 a.m. after six long hours. All this time they are required to wait out in the rain or sunshine.

They are also likely to be moved away due to security reasons if a VIP is passing by. Then the whole idea of the original queue is gone and a new one is formed with the result that the weak and elderly suffer more. There is no place whatsoever for them to stay under cover.

Surely, in this day and age there are simple and inexpensive ways of issuing visas without the recipients having to suffer so much. In addition to this, even the doorman in the Visa Office is rude to visa seekers and had the audacity to say “You Sri Lankans going to India” in a sarcastic manner. Yes, India is honoured by Sri Lankans due to the long standing cultural heritage binding the two countries. This is especially so for Buddhist pilgrims visiting India since Lord Buddha was born there. I do not think that any Sri Lankan going to India should be insulted in that manner.

Foreign visitors other than from Sri Lanka going to India are given special treatment and whisked inside through a special door without any question.

After all, both Sri Lanka and India have bilateral relations that are inter-twined with cultural and spiritual bindings from time immemorial. Obviously, we should not be treated as second class citizens in our own country!

We were told that there are more than 1000 visa seekers arriving at the office each day. I feel most of them are repeat visitors since they were not treated properly in the first place and are deliberately not told until late in the day that the day’s quota has been exceeded. All that is required is to give some token as soon as they arrive (possibly through an automatic dispensing machine under security surveillance) so that they can come at a later time to attend to their visa matters. Once the day’s quota has been exceeded, a note can be displayed to that effect so that there will be no one hanging around. Is that too difficult?

I hope that the president would deal with this matter humanely and do justice to all the Sri Lankans who seek to visit India. After all, as visitors, we do spend some money in India visiting so many places and staying in hotels in doing so, thereby helping India to earn some revenue. Lastly, if our visits to India are treated impolitely by India, they might as well close down the Visa Office for good so that we know that we are not welcome in India!

By Ranji Fernando, Via e-mail