By Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Jun 17: The Israeli authorities have assured to probe into the events of non allocation of visas to a group of Indian pilgrims who had to cut short their trip back from Israeli borders.
 
“Sadly, the travel agents involved had not informed us of any difficulty in the allocation of the visas and we learned it only after being apprised by yourself,” Mark Sofer, Ambassador of Israel has said in a letter to Goa’s commissioner of NRI affairs Eduardo Faleiro.
 
“As you rightly state, the examination of the events and the drawing of conclusions is of paramount importance in order to ensure that there will be no repetition of events,” the letter mentions.
 
The Ambassador has said that he was nonplussed by the press reports of the turn of events (when Pilgrims were halted at Israeli border) which referred to rejection and cancellation of the visas by Israel.
 
“I decided not to react in order to avoid exacerbation of the already harrowing experience of the pilgrims themselves,” he adds.
 
Faleiro earlier had raised the issue of nexus between travel agents in Goa and Israel, which had resulted in such a fiasco. Of the 97 pilgrims, 14 were denied visa after the travel agents cheated them.
 
The NRI commissioner had taken up the issue with Indian ambassador to Israel Navtej Sarna insisting an official reply from the Israeli authorities as to why the 14 pilgrims were denied a visa.
 
Faleiro, former union minister of state for foreign affairs, had also demanded thorough probe into illegal travel agents cheating gullible people, who often find themselves in difficult times because of visa regulations once they venture other country.