Pakistan embassy dismisses rumours of Pakistani-Americans being denied visas

Dismissing reports of the Pakistani-Americans being denied visas to visit their homeland, the Pakistan Embassy in the United States (US) said Tuesday that “this is misinformation and disinformation”.

“There was no truth to the rumours,” a spokesperson for the embassy clarified.

The embassy issued a clarification in response to a query raised during the press briefing held by the US State Department. The question pertained to the reports of the rejection of visas for Pakistani-Americans seeking to travel back to thier country.

“I’m not aware,” said US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. “This obviously would be – if there were to any – be any issues that arise in this area, certainly would be something for Pakistani consular officials to speak to and not anything as it relates to the State Department, so we’ll just leave it at that.”

A spokesperson for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington said that Pakistani-Americans, and other overseas Pakistanis, are most welcome to visit their motherland Pakistan.

The spokesperson added that the embassy was providing every possible consular assistance, including visas, to overseas Pakistanis.

"We encourage Pakistani-Americans to visit Pakistan either on their (National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis) NICOP or get visas, if they so desire, from the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC or from our four Consulates General in New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. Besides, visa requests are also processed online 24/7. Therefore, there should be no cause for concern,” the embassy added.

US monitoring cipher case closely

Meanwhile, during the same press briefing, the US State Department emphasised that it was closely monitoring the developments surrounding the cipher case.

“We consult with our congressional partners on a number of issues. I am certainly not gonna speak to something like that to specificity," the deputy principal spokesperson said while answering a question about whether US Congress had asked for an investigation into the cipher allegations.

Cipher gate

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Imran — less than a month before his ouster — brandished a letter, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation, which mentioned that his government should be removed from power.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor mention the name of the nation that had sent it. But a few days later, he named the United States and said that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Asad Majeed's meeting with Lu.