PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul will temporarily shut its consulate in Herat on Sunday over coronavirus threats in the Afghan province bordering Iran, officials confirmed to Arab News.
“We will keep our consulate in Herat shut temporarily for 15 days, effective from March 8,” Muhammad Hassan Wazir, deputy chief of mission at Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul, said on Thursday. He added that the ongoing coronavirus crisis in Iran had prompted the decision.
According to reports on Thursday, Pakistan itself has already recorded six infections since the first one was confirmed last week.
The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul said in a statement that it “would continue to monitor the situation and would consult with Afghan government before taking a decision on resumption of visa services.”
Hikmat Safi, adviser to Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), confirmed that Pakistan had announced the closure of its consulate in Herat, as Afghan authorities suspect 80 persons might have contracted the disease.
The persons returned from neighboring Iran, where 3,513 cases and 107 deaths have been reported.
Safi said the situation is expected to become more complicated as Iran started to deport Afghan refugees.
“The move to close the Herat consulate will only multiply problems of Afghans, seeking Pakistani visas. Officials of the two countries should adopt other preemptive measures to counter the fast-spreading virus instead of closing the consulate,” Safi said.
A state of emergency was declared in Herat after the first case of coronavirus was confirmed on Feb. 24.
Pakistani consulate in Herat suspends service amid coronavirus threat
https://arab.news/5k59b
Pakistani consulate in Herat suspends service amid coronavirus threat
- The consulate will suspend services for at least two weeks, starting Sunday
- Emergency was declared in Herat after the first case of coronavirus was confirmed on Feb. 24
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
