ISLAMABAD: The case of an Indian diplomat living in Pakistan without a visa got complicated on Monday, putting the Pakistani interior ministry and the Indian High Commission (IHC) in a verbal dispute.
Both the interior ministry and the IHC have issued conflicting press statements contradicting each other’s claims.
Daily Times earlier published the news on visa controversy after the IHC sent a written reply corroborating the news story. “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 until January 2017,” claimed the interior ministry in an official press statement.
However, the IHC denied the claims made by the interior ministry vis-a-vis its diplomat. “The visa for concerned diplomat and his family was valid for only 90 days,” an IHC spokesperson stated in a written statement sent to Daily Times. “We will again request the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for regularisation of the diplomat and his family members’ visa into an assignment visa, as per the bilateral agreement.”
Being headed by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who is known for his anti-India stance, the ministry asserted, “We granted him diplomatic visa as per bilateral visa agreement between the two countries.”
However, the IHC insisted that validity of the diplomat’s visa was for 90 days only. It also emphasised that the diplomatic visa was never issued to the said diplomat.
It was not clear if the interior minister was misled by his subordinates. The Foreign Office, which does not like intervention of the interior minister in foreign affairs, remained tight-lipped on the situation.
