Shashi Tharoor, who also chairs India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, said a “de facto open border for large numbers of people” would promote better bilateral relations between both nations.

The liberal visas for Pakistanis would be available those such as businesspeople, journalists, artists and musicians, Mr Tharoor explained.

He claimed it was sad that both countries were not as close as the US and Canada are.

Mr Tharoor claimed the Pakistani Army were at fault for the bad relations.

He said: “Until and unless Pakistani civil society can reduce the predominant space occupied by its army, there will always be a very strong constituency of people who would want to see hostility, not just with India but also with Afghanistan, because that justifies the army’s disproportionate privileges.

“Unfortunately, in recent years India feels that you can’t have normal relations with a society from where attacks keep coming across the border.

“Pakistan could easily help by making an example of these terrorist groups and arresting some of these terrorists.”

His words have come after Pakistan last week declared that it is “worried” about India’s “predator drone technology” as tensions rise between the

Islamabad’s Foreign Office spokesman, Mohammad Faisal, issued the concern during a weekly media briefing amid concerns New Delhi could utilise the technologies for surveillance and reconnaissance.

He said: “India’s development of drone technology is worrying when seen in the larger context of its buildup and expansion of military capabilities in the conventional and non-conventional domains, which are subjecting regional strategic stability to increasing strain.”

India recently carried out a successful test of its Rustom 2 drone that is regarded as being similar to the US’ predator drones.

It is unknown if there are any future plans for India to place weapons on their drones.

Mr Faisal declared the Indian drones should abide by the UN charter, international humanitarian law, and other procedures.

The main area of tension between the two South Asian nations stems from the Jammu and Kashmir region.

Wars between India and Pakistan in 1947 and 1965 centred around competing claims for the area.

Both sides have been responsible for violations along the border.