On May 13, the only two Indian journalists in Pakistan, Meena Menon of The Hindu and Snehesh Alex Philip of the Press Trust of India, were informed by the country’s Ministry of Information that they would have to leave Islamabad within a week. This is because the Pakistani authorites had refused to renew their visas.
Journalists are covered by a bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan that allows each country to station two journos in the other. During the period the two journalists had stayed in Pakistan their visa was restricted to Islamabad and had to be renewed every month.
Last year, a correspondent of The New York Times, Declan Walsh, who had spent nine years in Pakistan, was expelled from the country without any explanation.
Meena Menon, who is now back to Mumbai, speaks to Gateway House about how Pakistanis veiw Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to India, the impact of the Karachi terror attacks on the negotiations between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the government, and the changing threat perceptions in Pakistan towards India.
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