Official intervention helps activists enter Pakistan | Official intervention helps activists enter Pakistan

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NEW DELHI: The intervention by senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs ensured that a group of peace activists, seeking to take humanitarian aid to Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip through several countries, entered Pakistan on foot on Sunday.

“The MEA relents and allows the Gaza satyagrahis to cross the Wagah [border] on foot. This was conveyed to me by MEA Director (Pakistan) Division and hopefully there will now be no further hurdles,” said Biraj, one of the activists. The group, which includes 26 Indians and a Japanese, received a rousing reception in Pakistan from fellow peace activists. It will return here on Monday, before flying to Iran on Tuesday.

The activists had run into hurdles as soon as they began executing their plans. Pakistan refused visas to 17 of them. On Saturday, the Indian authorities did not permit them to enter Pakistan on foot. After staging a dharna for a while, they started returning to Delhi, but opted to spend the night at Malerkotla in Punjab after hearing that senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs had been approached. They returned to the border on Sunday. Except one activist, Ajit Sahi, the rest entered Pakistan. “The MEA faxed to the border authorities an older list we had sent. It was a mix-up on their part that led to Mr. Sahi being left out. But otherwise there was a marked change in the attitude of the authorities,” said Rakhi Sehgal, another activist.

The ‘Indian lifeline to Gaza,' flagged off at Rajghat on December 2, plans to touch Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt on its way to Gaza.

The group wanted to travel through Pakistan and enter Zahedan, Iran, from Quetta. However, Islamabad did not give the Indians visas for travelling to Quetta. This forced the group to settle for Lahore visas. The next hurdle came from the Indian side: the border authorities told them that there was no special permission from the Ministry to allow them to cross over on foot. The activists had claimed that the Ministry did not respond to their plea for crossing over on foot. “We thought the government has a stated policy of support to the Palestinian people. But such unresponsiveness raises serious doubts,” said Sunil Kumar, who had sat in dharna along with others at Wagah.

The mission is part of the Asian Peoples Solidarity for Palestine.

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