NA Committee on Foreign Affairs stressed transparency in visa for Afghan citizens

Celina Ali

Islamabad: The National Assembly Standing Committee, irked by the alleged lack of transparency in visa processing for Afghan citizens, stressed greater transparency in visa applications and approvals.

The Committee sought separate reports from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and FIA to identify the loopholes and subsequently root out corruption in the visa processes. The Chairman of the Committee Mohsin Dawar, commenting on the opacity and corruption stated that exploiting the vulnerabilities of Afghans was inhuman.

The members of the Committee stated in the absence of clear policy, procedural hurdles, bureaucratic discretion and corruption runs rampant. The members alleged that the sponsor and invitations letters on their official letterheads were completely disregarded while those who bribed the officials easily secured the visa within no time. They stressed that the security concerns may be taken into consideration, however, the process should be transparent, relaxed and streamlined. A special invitee to the meeting MNA Salah ud Din stated that such corrupt practices caused a grave damage to bilateral relations.

Given the fragmented mandate of various government entities with regards to visa for Afghan citizens, the Committee desired mapping of who is responsible for visa approval and issuance. It was informed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the issuing authority, however, the issuance is subject to clearance from other entities of the Government of Pakistan. It was outlined that visa issuance is subject to clearance from the intelligence agencies and the mandated period is 30 plus days. The Committee was apprised that the Ministry of Interior issued only the student visa and maintained data repository.

Besides Chairman MNA Mohsin Dawar, Mr. Muhammad Khan Daha, Ms. Zahra Wadood Fatimi, Mr. Nawab Sher, Ms. Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, Mr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani and Mr. Ghulam Ali Talpur MNAs were also present in the meeting. MNA Salah ud Din Ayubi attended the meeting as special invitee.