India's government suspended a new programme to allow Pakistani pensioners to get visas on arrival at the border, citing technical glitches only hours after officials said it had begun Tuesday.

Home Secretary R.K. Singh told reporters the scheme, which was designed to issue visas on arrival to senior citizens from Pakistan, had been suspended until further notice.

"Couple of points have to be ironed out on that. There are technical issues, documents required. We will iron it out after consultation with other agencies," he said.

The suspension was announced the same day that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned neighbouring Pakistan that there "cannot be business as usual" between the two countries after last week's deadly flare-up in disputed Kashmir.

Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia, a spokesman for the home ministry, insisted to AFP that the decision over visas had "nothing to do with tensions along the India-Pakistan border".