ISLAMABAD - The Foreign Office expects to resolve the visa issue in certain countries soon. “We have imposed a temporary freeze on issuance of certain visas in some countries after identifying some glitches in the system. These issues are being resolved,” said a senior official at the FO. Earlier, the Foreign Ministry in a letter sent to all its embassies in European Union countries had ordered a visa ban for Afghan nationals/origins, effective from February 8. The Pakistan Foreign Ministry relates this decision to the issuance of 1600 visas to Afghan origins who had provided fake Swedish residence cards. A formal letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan which went viral on social media last week indicated that Pakistan Embassy in Sweden had granted 1600 visas to Afghan citizens based on fake residence cards.
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The foreign ministry has ordered an immediate investigation regarding this scandal. The letter was issued on February 8 and recently went viral on social media. The letter was addressed to Pakistan Diplomatic Mission in European cities including London, Glasgow, Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Frankfort, Lisbon, Athens, Vienna, Berne, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels and The Hague. It is still not clear how long the ban will be in place as the investigations over the 1600 issued visas have already begun, and the issuance of visas is banned until further notice. The latest decision by the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan has negatively affected Afghan nationals currently residing in Pakistan. Their family members in Europe cannot come to visit them in Pakistan due to the imposed visa ban, and it has disrupted their personal plans, said one Afghan national in Islamabad.
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Since the takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban, the Pakistan government has limited the issuance of visas to Afghan nationals to a great extent. However, the FO officials said the issue will be resolved soon. “There is no discrimination. We will try to resolve this problem as soon as we can,” said one official. He said the visas issued on fake documents were being investigated. “There is a legal way to grant a visa. Visas on fake documents cannot be tolerated,” he added.