The Trump Administration has been effective in using the US visa sanction on many countries, including Pakistan.
Pakistan joins the list of 10 nations that have been imposed with the US visa sanctions. Under this law, countries refusing to bring back its citizens and visa over-stayers will be denied American visas.
The move came after Islamabad refused to take back its citizen deportees and visa over-stayers from America. The US had warned that it may withhold visas of Pakistanis, beginning from its senior officials.
The State Department spokesperson on Friday said that consular operations in Pakistan remain “unchanged” as of now. “This is a bilateral issue of ongoing discussion between the US and Pakistani governments. We are not going to get into the specifics at this time,” the spokesperson added.
Till now, the Trump administration has slapped eight countries with such visa sanctions. Ghana and Pakistan have been included in the list this year.
The US visa law has been stated under Section 243 (d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. “This measure will create hardship for Pakistanis who want or need to travel to the US. It could have been avoided if Pakistani authorities had not ignored American requests to respect their legal requirements for deportation,” said former Pakistan Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani.
He said Pakistan’s refusal to accept its citizen deported from the US is not new. “It seems that the US is no longer willing to overlook a wide range of official Pakistani behaviour. Bonhomie has been replaced by sanctions and restrictions based on Islamabad’s policy decisions,” Haqqani added.
This law existed since 1996, however, the demand increased only in last several years. The lawmakers wanted its enforcement against countries that had refused to accept deportees and visa over-stayers.
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