Pakistan Embassies stop issuing visa to Afghans

Islamabad, Pakistan: Pakistan’s Foreign Office(FO) has ordered the Pakistani embassies in European nations to stop the issuance of visas to Afghan citizens till further orders. The move from the Pakistan FO came after an alleged visa scandal surfaced, in which Pakistani visas were issued to 1600 Afghan nationals over illegitimate residential cards of Sweden.

The Pakistani embassies in the United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands have been instructed by the Pakistan Foreign Office to hold up the visa processing for Afghan nationals.

As per reports, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched an inquiry into the matter of the issue of about 1600 visas to Afghans by the Pakistan Mission in Europe upon the presentation of fake residential documents from Sweden.

With the exposure of this fact, the Foreign Office took no time to order an immediate inquiry into the matter and halted the visa processing and approvals to Afghan nationals until ordered. It is noteworthy that visa applications of all categories were blocked for the Afghan Nationals.

Moreover, the embassies took stringent action towards the issue as they went on to cancel the visas that were already granted with approval to the Afghan applicants. As the Afghanistan-based news agency, Pajhwok Afghan News reported that Pakistan’s military forces often subject the Afghan nationals to torture and harassment while travelling through Spin Boldak-Chaman gate, which is ironically considered as “The Friendship Gate located on Durand Line( Pakistan-Afghanistan border).

The Spin Boldak-Chaman gate is a route for about 20,000 people who travel daily, for trading or any other purposes. The majority of these travelers consist of Chaman, Quetta, and other areas on the other side of the Durand Line and Kandahar.

Passengers have repeatedly reported misbehaviour from Pakistan forces, who keep them waiting for inappropriate reasons.