Wednesday, October 5 2005 19:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Karachi: Setting the deadline of December 31 for completion of renovation work on the Indian consulate in this Pakistani port city, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh today (Oct 5, 2005) expressed confidence that process of issuing visas from here will start from January.

Witnessing the progress of renovation work at the consulate here, Singh said that a direction has been issued to restore the building by December 31 so that the visa office can function from January.

"We want visas to be issued from here from January," Singh said.

"This will save people of Karachi from the trouble of going to Islamabad for getting visas," he added.

Another significant development in the coming eight to ten weeks was going to be the reopening of the Khokhrapar-Munabao rail link.

"The rail link will be a great boon for the people of two sides, particularly those Pakistanis intending to visit Ajmer Sharif," Singh said.

He hoped the schedule will be maintained.