In Pakistan we got along really well, if only there wasn’t the inconvenience of the 47°/50° of July and of the vicious circle that every 3 hours threatens your survival: the mains falls, the fan on the ceiling stops, the air becomes suffocating, you run under the shower to try to survive but… to pump up the water to the tanks on the roofs electricity is needed: no electricity, no air, no water… panic!
We saved ourselves only thanks to the liters of iced mango shake that we were drinking every day and to the delicious salt lassì (a yogurt based drink in all similar to the Turkish ayran).
But there is a reason if we are in Islamabad: we are here to apply for the Indian visa. A ordeal.
First problem: which form?
On the website of the Indian Embassy of Islamabad there is a form, while on the page of the Indian Government there is another one that must be filled online and then printed. Obviously the two forms are not the same, which one of the 2 is the correct one? [The answer is: the one on the Government website]
Beside asking a lot of odd questions (first name of the grandparents…) it is said that 2 copies of each form are needed (or 3, it is not very clear), not knowing which form is the right one we photocopy both of them and we ended up with a bundle of 30 photocopies…
Second problem: the Laggard
The next morning we arrive early at the embassy, who doesn’t arrive is the guy of counter number 1, the only one that deals with tourist visa. “Eh, yes, he is like this, sometimes he comes late” they tell us. From 9 in the morning ’till 1 in the afternoon we sit waiting for the man to come to work. He won’t.
At 1 o’clock they decide to open counter number 8 as a substitute. Counter number 8 is in another room, but the announcement is given only in Urdu language, so we loose our place in the queue.
The lady of counter number 8 has never given a tourist visa to foreigners, so she asks a hand to her colleague.
Third problem: how to read a visa?
“Ehy, but your visa for Pakistan is expired!” blurts out one of the two.
This happens because the Pakistani visa is not very clear: the date that follows the writing “Good for a journey upto:” (grammatical mistakes included) indicates that by that date you have to enter the country, from that date onwards you have 1 month; we entered the day before the expiration.
I explain my point very politely, but no way “No, no, as far as I know you are illegal in Pakistan”… “Well, in order to work here you have to be able to do two things: read the Indian and the Pakistani visa and you are not even able to do so, please go ask somebody else!” He goes and comes back after a while announcing that everything is ok, our visas are valid.
They proceed in the procedure, asking us only one of the thousands of forms that I photocopied, they ask us to pay 4500 rupees each and give us a receipt. We, and the bundle of the 20 exceeded copies, walk away not fully convinced.
At this point we decide to go to have a tour up in the Northern Areas [Read: Karakoram Highway, Kaghan Valley] and to come back 15 days later to collect our visas.
Back from our unlucky tour we go back to the embassy, at counter number 5 a smiley guy tells us: “Here are your 3 months visas, you made it!” “Thank you, but we asked for a 6 months visa…” ” Here it says that you paid only 4500 rupees that is the price for a 3 months one…” “How am I supposed to know? I paid what I was asked to pay, I’ll pay you the difference”. They bounce us to counter number 9 and then to number 10 and to each employed we tell the all story. At the end we convince them to let us pay the balance, but it must have been too complicated so much that they decided to change the visa for us for free. We hand in our passports to come back to collect them the next day, we were about to leave when the man behind the counter calls me back: “Madame, but your Pakistan Visa is expired!”
Oh no! Again!
Third Problem bis: how to read a visa?
This guy doesn’t lower himself so much to go double check with somebody else and informs us that if we don’t come back with some official paper from our embassy or from a Pakistani authorities that confirms the validity of our Pakistan visa, he cannot give us the Indian one.
Obviously at the Embassy of Italy they assure us that our visa is valid, but they also tell us that such a paper doesn’t exist (the visa is itself a document that guarantee our legality), but that anyway they will phone the Indian Embassy to solve the problem.
Fourth problem: pick up the goddamn phone!
In the afternoon I receive a phone call from the Embassy of Italy saying that the Indians don’t answer the phone. What to do?
We go back to the Indians – very interesting is how everytime we have to go in and out from the Diplomatic Enclave, a super secured zone where are located all the embassies (every vehicle that goes inside is checked even under with mirrors); usually we were going in and out with the motorbike without even taking the helmets off, today they wanted some special permit from us…
At the Indian Embassy we speak with one more employee Note… Hide…
to whom I explain the all story from the beginning and tho whom I ask a direct number because the Italian Embassy is calling and they don’t answer. He bounces me to a guy called on purpose who could’t care less of what I had to say, he wants to see our passports. I hand them to him and as a reply: “Your Pakistan Visa is expired!”
Third problem Tris: how to read a visa?
I have a hysterical breakdown and start shouting and crying telling him how incompetent they all are, yelling him to go to show our passports to somebody who knows how to do his job or, if not, that at least they answer the phone! He goes away in the back and after some time comes back apologizing telling me that yes, it’s true, our visa is not expired…
To have a more complete picture of the situation must be said that at the Indian Embassy of Islamabad, thanks to the “kindness” and “helpfulness” of the people that work there, in 3 days we saw women crying and people despair continuously. Some because their medical visa was refused, some others because they can’t rejoin with their family (wife and children in India, husband stuck in Pakistan), or others because they were simply mistreated. And the poor security guards, busy giving comfort and bringing glasses of water…
Finally the next day they give us the visa (for 6 months) and only at that time I agree that Thomas gives vent to all the hostility that he’d accumulated making a scene to the man that yesterday threated me bad; and here comes a full circle: he turns out to be the man of counter number 1 that finally showed up to work.
In the picture the surreal documents signed from a employee of the Minister of Interiors of Pakistan stating:
“Certified that visa of the passport n. … is valid up to 11th july 2012 and they may not be disturbed for the sake of visa expiry problems.”
It has been a pleasure to wave it in front of those braggart!
This document actually saved us a lot of annoyance in Pakistan: nobody is able to read the visa, beside few illuminated intellectuals, but the visa is needed even for taking a room in any hotel!
Waiting to leave toward east, we let ourselves go to the crazy nights of Islamabad. We are proud to announce our raving clip: “from the cricket field”! [ Video ]
