UAE, Pakistan have resolved visa issues — Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has settled its visa issues with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), prime minister’s adviser on interfaith harmony Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi said on Tuesday, adding that the country’s foreign office was in touch with relevant officials in the UAE in this regard.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, Ashrafi met with the acting UAE ambassador, Rashid Abdul Rahman Al-Ali, earlier in the day.
He told a group of journalists after the meeting that the visa issues between the two countries were resolved during a recent meeting between the prime minister’s adviser on overseas Pakistanis, Zulfi Bukhari, and the labor ministry officials of the Gulf country.
Last month, an international news agency reported that the UAE had stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 countries, including Pakistan. Reacting to the development, Pakistani authorities said they had received no official intimation from the Gulf state, though they added they were looking into the issue.
Ashrafi said that UAE's security and stability was dear to Pakistan, adding that Islamabad wanted to resolve “all misunderstandings developed between Muslim Arab countries through dialogues and reconciliation.”
The prime minister’s adviser also maintained that no one could spoil the Pakistan-UAE relations, though he added that the two countries should be cautious of those elements who indulged in “baseless propaganda” to create differences between them.
“The UAE ambassador to Pakistan thanked Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi for visiting the embassy,” the APP reported.
Al-Ali said that Pakistan and the UAE had close brotherly relations that were being further strengthened.