ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday revoked a long-standing facility which would grant a visa-on-arrival to Afghan nationals, thereby restricting their movement within the country and halting visa issuance at airports and border crossings.
“Previously, Afghan nationals were being granted 30-day visas on arrival at entry points. As the new policy comes into effect, they will be required to apply for a visa from Pakistani missions in Afghanistan,” Ismatullah Junejoid, the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Immigration Director, said. “The move comes due to increased security risks emanating from the western border,” he added.
Earlier, Afghan nationals holding Afghan passports and living in Pakistan were allowed a visa extension for a period of six months with one re-entry. “Afghan origin/third country passports holders are initially granted 45-days visa by our missions abroad except the Pakistan Mission in Afghanistan. They are allowed a further extension for 45-days,” information on the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports website reads.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had pledged granting citizenship to approximately 1.5 million Afghan refugees and their children who had been residing in or were born in Pakistan.
“Afghans whose children have been raised and born in Pakistan will be granted citizenship Inshallah (God willing) because this is the established practice in countries around the world,” the PM had said.
“They are humans. How come we have deprived them and have not arranged for offering them national identification card and passport for 30 years, 40 years?”
According to the United Nations (UN), Pakistan has the largest population of refugees in the world, of which 2.7 million are Afghan nationals. The UN surveys estimate that 60 percent of the Afghan refugee population is Pakistan-born.
Speaking to a private television channel (Express News), Junejo explained that a total of 24 countries were now being given the on-arrival visa facility. These countries include Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, Thailand, Spain, and Singapore.
Pakistan revokes visa on arrival privilege for Afghan nationals
Pakistan revokes visa on arrival privilege for Afghan nationals
- Provision would grant refugees 30-day permit at entry points
- Move follows increased security risks from the western border, FIA says
Pakistan among Arab, Muslim nations slamming US envoy’s remarks on Israel’s right to Mideast land
- Huckabee suggested Israel could claim land stretching across parts of the Middle East
- Pakistan and Arab states say comments violate international law, threaten Gaza de-escalation
JERUSALEM: Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint condemnation on Sunday of remarks by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson.
In an episode released Friday, Carlson pushed Huckabee on the meaning of a biblical verse sometimes interpreted as saying that Israel is entitled to the land between the river Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq.
In response, Huckabee said: “It would be fine if they took it all.”
When pressed, however, he continued that Israel was “not asking to take all of that,” adding: “It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement.”
The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments — alongside three major regional organizations — issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory.”
The statement, released by the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry, was signed by the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the State of Palestine, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
They said the comments contravene the UN Charter and efforts to de-escalate the Gaza war and advance a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement.
Iran joined the chorus with its foreign ministry accusing Huckabee on X of revealing “American active complicity” in what it called Israel’s “expansionist wars of aggression” against Palestinians.
Earlier, several Arab states had issued unilateral condemnations.
Saudi Arabia described the ambassador’s words as “reckless” and “irresponsible,” while Jordan said it was “an assault on the sovereignty of the countries of the region.”
Kuwait decried what it called a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law,” while Oman said the comments “threatened the prospects for peace” and stability in the region.
Egypt’s foreign ministry reaffirmed “that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or any other Arab lands.”
The Palestinian Authority said on X that Huckabee’s words “contradict US President Donald Trump’s rejection of (Israel) annexing the West Bank.”
On Saturday, Huckabee published two posts on X further clarifying his position on other topics touched upon in the interview, but did not address his remark about the biblical verse.
The speaker of the Israeli parliament, Amir Ohana, praised Huckabee on X for his general pro-Israel stance in the interview, and accused Carlson of “falsehoods and manipulations.”
Carlson has recently found himself facing accusations of antisemitism, particularly following a lengthy, uncritical interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes — a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal.
