Indian conference visa denial sparks scholars’ protest

Academics have reacted strongly to the denial by the Indian government of visas to Pakistani scholars seeking to participate in an international conference on Asian studies with academics from around the world, and said future international conferences should not be held in any such country where participation is restricted on the grounds of nationality.

Scholars of Pakistani origin could only participate via video-conferencing in the annual AAS-in-Asia conference, organised by the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), an academic body of scholars and subject specialists, held from 5-8 July at Ashoka University in Sonipat, in Haryana state near New Delhi.

The decision to bar Pakistani scholars was conveyed by India’s Ministry of External Affairs to Ashoka University via a letter only after the panellists' names had been finalised.

A joint statement by the organisers reads: “The fact that the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India has decided to deny visas to Pakistani scholars (including scholars of Pakistani origin who are citizens of other countries) to attend the AAS-in-Asia conference in Delhi is not in tune with the open exchange of ideas and knowledge that is the very purpose of the conference."

They added: “Unfortunately, by the time we learned of the Government of India’s decision, the planning for the conference had been underway for a number of years.”

India’s visa ban referred to invitees of Pakistani nationality as well as those of Pakistani origin holding other nationalities, including United States and United Kingdom citizenship. “Kindly note, this ministry does not recommend participation from Pakistan in the proposed event,” the ministry said in its letter to Ashoka University dated 19 February.

In June, as many as 650 scholars had written to the organisers of the AAS-in-Asia conference and to the AAS board of directors urging them to cancel the event in view of the visa restrictions and its impact on academic freedom. But, while behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade the ministry continued, the organisers said it would be too costly to cancel the event at a late stage.

Some of the signatories said the AAS had informed them too late about the visa restrictions for them to boycott the event without significant financial loss, as air tickets and other arrangements had already been made. Some even accused AAS of “complicity with the government of India” for not immediately condemning the Indian government’s attacks on academic freedom and for remaining silent until it was too late.

According to reports, the Indian government has tightened up on visas for Pakistanis, in part over the death sentence handed down in April 2017 by Pakistan to an Indian spy, Kulbhushan Yadav.

In March this year the Indian government also refused to grant visas to 30 Pakistani medical doctors registered to attend a conference organised by the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver. Similarly, Moneeza Hashmi, daughter of the renowned poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz was a speaker at the Asia Media Summit in Delhi but was denied a visa by the Indian government.

Conference protest

Last week a request to protest was lodged by the scholars participating in the conference from universities and research institutes in many countries. They said in a resolution drawn up at the conference that the Indian government’s decision was “very unfortunate and is a step back into the history of bitter bilateral relations since 1947”.

The protest was not officially allowed at the meeting venue in New Delhi, reportedly because the AAS conference organisers did not believe it was appropriate to criticise the Indian government as part of the official conference proceedings.

However, some 80 participants of the total of 800 at the conference attended a special meeting at the conference venue, renting a room with funds they raised themselves, to discuss the selective visa ban, independent researcher and writer Sinjini Mukherjee, who is doing a PhD at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University, Germany, said via social media.

The meeting ‘to protest the exclusion of Pakistani scholars at the AAS conference’ was held on 5 July before the main conference began and included discussion of the responsibilities of professional organisations such as AAS towards members, and the marginalisation and what action needs to be taken when visa regimes limit academic exchanges.

Among the resolutions was that AAS should not hold conferences in countries with “official or unofficial” policies to exclude people based on their nationality. Another resolution urged the Indian government to reconsider its blanket ban on Pakistani scholars keen to participate in international conferences.

Sameen Mohsin Ali, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan, is one of the Pakistani-origin scholars denied a visa, along with Salman Hussain, a doctoral candidate in the anthropology department at the City University of New York in the US, Mariam Durrani, assistant professor of anthropology at Hamilton College, New York, and Annie Zaman, a researcher and human rights activist.

‘Blow to knowledge sharing’

Ali said her intention to participate in the conference was purely academic. "Damage to India-Pakistan relations comes second as the first casualty of this visa denial is knowledge. It is a setback and a blow to efforts for knowledge sharing and learning," she told University World News.

Ali was to convene a panel with Rosita Armytage, a researcher in anthropology at Durham University, UK, and says she never thought an academic activity would be affected by military and political tension between India and Pakistan. "This should not have happened,” Ali said.

Activist Annie Zaman said in a Himal Magazine podcast interview: "I was not much surprised given deep-rooted tension in relations between India and Pakistan, but I am quite amazed that only scholars were barred from visiting India while some cricket board officials from Pakistan and a few persons from showbiz visited India recently."

A Pakistani national, she was to present a paper on 6 July on "Social Media and Balochistan" at the AAS conference.

Academics say India’s banning of scholars from Pakistan could invite similar reaction from the Pakistan government which could escalate and damage efforts to normalise relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three major wars and one low-intensity war since both nations came into being in 1947.

"We regret this decision by the Indian government and consider it very unfortunate in [view of] the background of already tense bilateral relations between these two countries. Instead of promoting people-to-people contact which has been a cornerstone in all previous India-Pakistan official dialogues, this decision of barring Pakistan-origin scholars to attend [what is] just an educational conference in India is a step back in history," Anwar Nasim, member and former president of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, told University World News.

"Academics should be an exemption to politically or militarily motivated visa restrictions. They should be given the freedom and visas by both countries to share and exchange information,” said Nasim, who says he has visited India many times and has also hosted scientists from India.

“Scholars from both sides must be very vocal in protesting against these bans," Nasim said.