ISLAMABAD - Ministry of Interior yesterday clarified some media reports that an Indian diplomat had been living in Pakistan without a valid visa for the last six months and said that he had been issued valid visa after due confirmation from the Foreign Office.
“The diplomat is serving in the Indian High Commission, Islamabad, while his visa had expired some six months ago and the interior ministry is reluctant to issue him a valid diplomatic visa,” media reports said adding that FO and the ministry were responsible for the delay.
"It is clarified that the said Indian diplomat, prior to his posting in Islamabad, was serving in the Indian embassy in Paris and got his Pakistani one-year multiple entry visa from Pakistan Embassy in Paris which is valid till January 2017," the interior ministry said in a statement and added: "After his entry into Pakistan, his diplomatic assignment visa enabling him to perform his diplomatic duties was put in due process." The ministry said that after confirmation of his tenure of posting from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior had granted him diplomatic visa as per bilateral visa agreement of the two countries.
“It is reiterated that the grant of appropriate assignment visa to any diplomat or change of his visa category is a routine matter,” the statement said.
It is also clarified that prior to his posting in Islamabad the Indian diplomat was serving in Embassy of India in Paris and not in Middle East as reported by the press.
According to the news report of a local news agency, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakria said that the process of renewal of visa might take several months. "As far as the case is under process, we cannot say the Indian diplomat is living here without a visa," the report said while quoting the FO spokesman.
The report also quoted the spokesman of the Indian High Commission who confirmed the presence of the Indian diplomat in Islamabad without a visa. He asserted the Indian High Commission had been requesting the Pakistani authorities in writing and "through other bilateral means" to get visa for the said diplomat.
