KARACHI, March 16: Organizers of the World Social Forum (WSF) mega event in the city have expressed their serious concern over delaying tactics by government functionaries in issuing visa to foreign participants, and demanded removal of all hurdles in this regard within 24 hours.

  Addressing a news conference on Thursday at the Karachi Press Club, members of the WSF organizing committee Karamt Ali and Saleha Athar regretted that despite assurances from cabinet ministers and directives from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, visa issue had remained unresolved as yet.

  “We do not understand why the government functionaries are making it difficult after issuing visa to thousands of cricket fans earlier without seeking so many details about the visitors. If you are committed to a policy of fostering people-to-people contacts, then all those who want to visit Pakistan to attend the WSF event must be given visa within the next 24 hours” they said.

They made it clear that if the issue was not resolved, then the regime would itself be responsible for the world-wide protest.

  They pointed out that the governments of Brazil, India, Venezuela and Mali, where the WSF had organized such events earlier, had issued visas to all delegates simply on production of invitation letters. They granted visa on arrival to every citizen from a state not having an embassy in the concerned country. Surprisingly, when the WSF event took place in Mumbai in 2004, the BJP government had issued visa to every applicant.

“We expect the same from the Pakistan government,” they said, adding, “Let us make it clear that we have started the arrangements after positive signals from the government. We want to make it absolutely clear that if at this point of time, the government dragged its feet away, it will be held responsible for the world-wide protest and damage to the so-called soft image of the county.”

They also produced copies of the letters sent to government functionaries, and said that Mr B. M. Kutty, a very senior member of the WSF set up was currently in Islamabad to expedite the process of visa.

  They demanded facility of visa on arrival extended to certain delegates as Pakistan did not have diplomatic missions in many countries. “After all, it has allowed the visa on arrival to businessmen,” they argued, adding why the same could not be issued to those who were striving for social, political and economic justice, as well as peace.

  While explaining the difficulties being faced by the civil society organizations and activists, human and social rights activists, pro-people intellectuals and political thinkers from across the world in getting visa, they said that the delaying tactics by the officials concerned would undermine the global movement against corporate–led globalization, wars, colonization, denial of rights of all sorts, terrorism, extremism, fundamentalism, militarization and a host of other issues.

Thousands of people who believed in a peaceful and just world order had shown their interest in attending the forthcoming five-day event in Karachi beginning on March 24, they said.