Subject: [Venue-selection] Kolkata

From: Amir Qayyum <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2018 19:40:05 +0500

I feel that because of the geo-political situation of the region,
participants from Pakistan will have great difficulty in getting visa
for India. I experienced this when the ICANN meeting was held in
Hyderabad in 2016. In spite of being the member of ICANN Nominating
Committee, and thereby funded by ICANN, I never got the visa approval
(Pakistani citizens need visa approval before applying for visa!). The
same happened with another Pakistani who was the ICANN NomCom
Chair-Elect !!! However, just few days before the meeting, he got a
"limited and restricted-visa" (reporting to the police station before
all movement!!!). Therefore, I request that any other location in Asia
should be selected which does not have these political rivalry issues.

I also participated in a good number of IETF meeting (since 1997), and
I am a co-author of the RFC 3626. I am currently the selection
committee member for ISOC Fellowships to IETF. I think that it will be
hard for me to get the visa to attend.

Thanks.

Amir