Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had given the then Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani the authority to issue visas to American citizens, as per a leaked official document.
The document issued from Prime Minister Secretariat states that the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani ‘is pleased to announce’ that Pakistan Ambassador to Washington is being empowered to issue visas ‘with immediate effect’ to Americans with validity up to one year.
The document gave Haqqani the power to issue visas to any American recommended by the US Department of State, with completed applications clearly indicating their purpose of visit to Pakistan.
“The ambassador will not have to get affirmation from concerned authorities before issuing these visas,” read the order. The Pakistan Embassy in Washington was given powers of Prime Minister’s office for this purpose.
The document is signed by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nargis Sethi and dated 14.07.2010.
A controversy arose recently when Haqqani claimed in an Op-Ed in the Washington Post that ‘his connections helped US government in hunting and eliminating Obama Bin Laden in Pakistan’.
The claim put PPP in jeopardy, with criticism coming from media and masses regarding the then government compromising Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has tweeted that the PPP government had asked Foreign Office not to issue visas to 36 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials. He has also attached a picture of an official documents signed in 2010.
Pakistan Foreign office asked not to issue visas to CIA officials pic.twitter.com/dG7HQeRA10
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) March 23, 2017
