LAHORE: The Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation on Sunday held a candlelit vigil outside the press club, demanding the governments of India and Pakistan to ease visa restrictions.

The foundation said it would observe 2018 as a year of peace and urged the governments of both the countries to facilitate their citizens by easing visa regime.

The foundation`s chairman, Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, said India issued visas to only 34,445 Pakistani citizens last year while Pakistan issued 40,000 to Indian nationals.

`This ratio is far less compared to their other neighbouring countries. A number of citizens of Pakistan and India have relatives across the border and the strict visa restriction is causing a lot of problems for them,` Mr Qureshi lamented, adding India issued 1,290,000 visas to Bangladeshi citizens in 2017.

`The governments should take steps to lessen the trust deficit between them for the benefit of their peoples. The people-to-people contacts should be facilitated instead of creating hurdles for them,` he said.

Supreme Court Bar Association former secretary Raja Zulqarnain, Rana Zia Abdur Rehman advocate, Syed Shamshad Hussain, Malik Mansif advocate and Ehsan Wyne also spoke. Staff Reporter