Indian mission staff role under scanner

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan police have unearthed a racket in forged visas that enable Pakistani citizens to enter the country, enjoy an exemption from mandatory security checks and stay longer in the country. They suspect the involvement of employees of the Indian high commission in Pakistan.

Over the past few months, more than 350 Pakistanis have entered India on visas that could have been tampered with by embassy staff in Islamabad, says a report filed by Ramphool Meena, Inspector General (IG) of the Government Railway Police (GRP).

Alarmed by this infiltration, the crime branch of the Rajasthan police has launched a high-level enquiry into the racket that could turn into a security nightmare for the country, especially after the Jaipur bomb blasts.

“This is a serious issue. We are writing to the ministry of external affairs to seek the help of the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the role of high commission staff in Pakistan,” sources in the crime branch said.

Visas issued to Pakistanis came under the police scanner after 51 passengers travelling on the weekly Thar Express – which connects Khokrapar in Pakistan with Jodhpur in Rajasthan- were caught with fake papers at the Munabao checkpoint in Barmer during April and May this year.

An intelligence official in Delhi said fake currency is one of the most smuggled items, and “fake currency coming in through the Rajasthan rail link is exorbitant. Some of those who disappear are also into smuggling drugs. Many of them are going back, but through other routes, leaving very little evidence of their return.”

Another senior intelligence official who was involved in giving security clearance for the Thar Express had this to say: “When we started the Thar Express we were aware that they [criminal elements] will try to use it for various activities. But it is never a one-way street.”

Pakistanis visiting India are generally given visas for 30 days. During their period of stay, they are allowed to visit only those places for which they have sanction from the Indian embassy. Also, they are required to report to the local police on entering a town. These conditions are waived off only in rare cases.

While the original visa is given to the applicant, the high commission keeps a copy, which can be accessed online by immigration officials in India.

But the visas carried by passengers arrested by the police had been altered to allow the visitors to not only overstay by nearly 30 days, but also to visit sensitive areas like the Rann of Kutch. These passengers were also exempt from police verification, allowing them to go off the Indian radar for several weeks.

“They were caught after the immigration officers crosschecked their papers with the information available online,” said Mohan Singh Madhur, deputy superintendent of Government Railway Police (GRP).

An enquiry into the forged papers conducted by the GRP revealed that the visas were altered in Pakistan by a cartel of local agents with the possible “connivance” of the high commission staff.

“The changes in the original visas were countersigned by high commission staff. Only a high-level enquiry can reveal if the signatures are original or forged,” Madhur said.
Madhur said the Pakistani agencies had also made some arrests in the case. “We have reports that some Karachi-based travel agents have been arrested for their role in the racket,” he said.

An intelligence official in Delhi said he had no information about an organised racket involving high commission official in Pakistan, “but we cannot rule that out.” He said: “We are concerned about the large number of Pakistanis who are disappearing after they take the legal route, but most of them are smugglers and petty criminals. We haven’t come across terrorists taking the legal route to enter India.”

(With additional reporting by Josy Joseph)

OTHER PASSPORTVISA SCAMS
* A few weeks ago, the government withdrew the ‘Z’ series of passports after they failed to track down some 300 of them which were part of a missing diplomatic bag. The bag containing about 500 passports, meant for the Indian mission in Dubai, went missing some time ago. Investigators admit that they still have no idea who got about 300 of these passports. They have tracked down the other 200.
* The CBI is investigating the sale of official white passports, meant for government employees, to illegal immigrants. The racket emerged after immigration authorities intercepted a group of illegal immigrants carrying white passports at the New Delhi airport. Investigators suspect that some lower level officials from the passport division where running the racket.
* About eight months ago, a group of Andhra Pradesh residents were nabbed at the Kuwait-Iraq border when they were crossing into Iraq. They didn’t have visas to enter Iraq, and later investigations showed that many of them had illegal travel documents.