Iran offers to simplify visa procedures for Indians

Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, February 16

Calling for closer bilateral ties, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday said his country was ready to simplify visa procedures and hoped India would reciprocate the gesture.

“We are willing to simplify the visa procedures to facilitate easy movement of people between the two countries,” he said here.

Rouhani was addressing a gathering after attending the Friday prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid on the second day of his three-day visit to India.

His brief speech in Persian focused on the need for unity among Muslims and strengthening bilateral cooperation between India and Iran.

Rouhani also stressed on the commonalities and age-old cultural bond between the two countries.

Endowed with rich resources of oil and gas, Iran was ready to help India to meet its energy requirements, the president said.

Iran was also willing to allow India access to Chabahar Port to facilitate transit to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe.

The first phase of the Chabahar port in south-east Iran, which India is developing, was inaugurated in December last year. The port has opened a new strategic transit route between India, Iran and Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan.

Rouhani said there was a great potential for enhancing Indo-Iran cooperation in areas like industry, agriculture and advanced technologies in the interests of development and prosperity for both the countries.

“We both should work together to further strengthen the peace in the interests of the region,” he said.

Cautioning Muslims against the divisive tactics of “enemies of Islam”, Rouhani exhorted the community to remain united and to shed the sectarian differences.

Iran, he said, was working to end bloodshed in Iraq and Syria. “If Muslims had remained united, the United States President would not have dared to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. If we are united, the Zionist state can’t dare to commit atrocities on the innocent people of Palestine,” he said.

Accompanied by Telangana state ministers and senior officials, Rouhani offered ‘namaz’ at the 17th century mosque.

The Hyderabad MP and Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president, Asaduddin Owaisi, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Ali and few other MIM legislators also participated in the Friday prayers. Moulana Rizwan Qureshi, imam of the mosque, led the prayers.

Earlier in the day, Rouhani visited Qutub Shahi tombs, the magnificent medieval necropolis complex here.

Accompanied by members of Iranian delegation and Telangana Government officials, Rouhani went round the sprawling complex at Golconda, built during the reign of the Qutub Shahi dynasty that ruled the Hyderabad region for 170 years in the 16th – 17th centuries.

He was briefed about the historic site by the officials. A set of seven tombs, built in Iranian architecture style, are presently undergoing restoration works.

The Rs 1 billion restoration project is being executed by the Aga Khan Foundation’s Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).

Spread over 108 acres, it is said to be the only necropolis in the world where all the sultans of a dynasty, barring one ruler, are buried.

The Qutub Shahi tombs are one of the most significant medieval necropolises with 72 structures within its complex, encompassing 40 mausoleums, 23 mosques, five step-wells and water structures, a hamam (mortuary bath), pavilions, garden structures and enclosure walls. It is in the race for UNESCO’s World Heritage tag.