Pakistan, US visa row to be decided amicably

United States, 19th May: As per the latest developments between senior officials of both Pakistan and US, the two countries have agreed on resolving all issues regarding issuing of visas for diplomats.

Speaking about the outcomes of the meeting involving officials from both these nations, Richard Senlsire, US embassy spokesperson stated on Monday that although, both the US and Pakistan admit having few differences regarding visa issues but its being hoped that the dialogue will be able to resolve all such issues soon.

The meeting was held at the Foreign Office in Islamabad last week.

Senlsire stated that every nation has its own specific immigration policy regarding issuance of visas and hence, such differences between both the nations are not a big issue. And since Pakistan is a coalition partner of the US, so, all issues regarding Pak-US visa rows will get solved amicably.

The US embassy in Pakistan has been asked by the Pakistani Foreign Office to give details about their diplomats because the US embassy has visas above their maximum sanctioned limit.

Although the US embassy stated that it has already applied for more Pakistani visas needed for defense officials from the US to come to Pakistan, but as per Pakistani Foreign Office, the US embassy officers are yet to furnish preliminary details about their jobs in Pakistan to the Pakistan embassy.

P J Crowley, State Department Spokesperson in Washington, stated that the US officials have been asking Pakistan officials for a number of months to increase the number of visas to be issued to US diplomats apart from other issues including counter-terrorism and increased co-operation among two nations. 

Crowley said that no doubt, there has been some progress recently, however, still, the issuance of more Pakistan visas to help people from the US work in Pakistan and make developments on security issues, economic issues and agricultural issues is not resolved yet.

Crowley, however, denied giving the exact details of the number of pending applications for Pakistan visas which, he added, run into scores.

According to an official for Foreign Office, the US embassy in Pakistan is allowed to apply for 420 to 450 US visas. But, it exceeded the maximum limit for US visas and applied for more than 850 US visas for defense officials, diplomats, accountants, auditors and cultural officers out of which nearly 700 US visas have already been issued.

Pakistan, on the other hand, said the US embassy has not issued US visas to nearly 30 Pakistani diplomats wanting to go the US.