Krishna objects to Tharoor's visa tweet

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said the government would go by the home ministry’s guidelines on the new visa rules and said differences over such issues should not be discussed in public.

“We have gone along with the home ministry on the visa issue,” Krishna told reporters when asked about Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s remarks on Twitter, a social networking site, where he criticised the government for its new visa regulations.

New visa regulations were introduced on November 4 in the wake of disclosures about the abuse of tourist visas by 26/11 terror suspect David Coleman Headley.

The home ministry issued a directive that foreign nationals having a long-term multi-entry Indian tourist visa must have a mandatory two-month gap between two visits. The new guidelines elicited protests from the US and British governments.

“Well, these issues are not to be discussed in public,” Krishna said, adding “if there are any perceptions, they should be sorted out within the four walls of the two ministries.”

In his tweets, Tharoor questioned whether the new visa restriction would actually strengthen security as the ‘26/11 killers had no visas’.

‘My only role is to object to them strongly. MEA (ministry of external affairs) officials are discussing them with MoHA (ministry of home affairs) which imposed them.’