ISLAMABAD: The United States Embassy in Islamabad said on Sunday consular operations in Pakistan remained “normal and unchanged” even as Pakistan was added to a list of countries facing visa sanctions for refusing to take back deportees and visa overstayers.
The new visa-related sanctions are mentioned in the Federal Register notification which was updated earlier this week.
“Consular operations in Pakistan remain normal and unchanged,” the US embassy spokesman told Arab News. “The matter noted in the Federal Register 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 spokesman said, declining further comment.
The Pakistani foreign office did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
“Since the law was modified to cover nonimmigrant visas in 1996, 318 visa applicants have been affected, and sanctions have been imposed on 10 countries,” the notification said. Guyana, Gambia, Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burma, Laos and Ghana were already on the list, to which Pakistan has now been added.
“During this same time period, tens of millions of aliens have received nonimmigrant visas including, collectively, millions of applicants from the 10 countries affected,” the notification adds.
If initial sanctions “prove ineffective at encouraging the foreign government’s cooperation on removals,” escalation measures can be imposed, the notification states.
The visa sanctions come as US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice G. Wells are both expected to visit Pakistan next week, as announced by the Pakistani Foreign Office.
US embassy says consular operations in Pakistan ‘normal and unchanged’
US embassy says consular operations in Pakistan ‘normal and unchanged’
- Washington adds Pakistan to list of countries facing visa sanctions for refusing to take back deportees and visa overstayers
- Sanctions come at a time top US officials Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Alice Wells are expected in Pakistan
Pakistan reports first wild polio case of 2026 despite vaccination campaigns
- Four-year-old girl infected in Sindh’s Sujawal district as virus persists in high-risk areas
- Pakistan conducted last nationwide campaign in January, vaccinating over 45 million children
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported its first wild poliovirus case of the year, health authorities said on Thursday, underscoring the persistence of the disease in high-risk areas despite ongoing vaccination campaigns.
The latest infection was confirmed in a four-year-old girl in Sujawal district of the southern Sindh province, according to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that can cause permanent paralysis, mainly in children under the age of five. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the disease remains endemic.
“The case was reported through the polio surveillance network and confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad,” the statement said.
“The Polio Eradication Initiative is already analyzing the best response to tackle and prevent further transmission.”
In 2026, Pakistan conducted a nationwide polio campaign in January that vaccinated more than 45 million children, while the next national campaign is planned for April.
Since 1994, Pakistan has cut polio cases by 99.8 percent through vaccination efforts, reducing infections from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1990s to 31 in 2025.
Pakistan reported 31 polio cases in 2025. Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for more than half of the country’s polio cases in 2025, with 17 of the 31 infections reported from the region.
According to health authorities, 74 cases were reported in 2024.
More than 200 polio workers and police officers assigned to protect polio teams have been killed in Pakistan since the 1990s, according to health and security officials.
Militants often falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.
The vaccination campaigns are also undermined by parental refusals in remote regions.
