Coming down heavily on Pakistan, the Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad has stopped issuing visas to Pakistani nationals.
The decision was made after a visa extension application submitted by Bangladeshi Diplomat and High Commission’s Press & Visa Affairs Councillor – Muhammad Iqbal Hossain, remained pending for over 4 months. Muhammad Iqbal Hossain is living in Islamabad with his daughter, while his wife and son are in Dhaka.
The Foreign Office in Dhaka is yet to make any official announcement on the issue.
Bangladesh’s leading daily – Dhaka Tribune quoted, “Issuance of any visa to Pakistani nationals remains suspended as the visa counter in Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad has been closed since last Monday [May 13].”
Speaking on the occasion, a Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry Official said, “As a sign of protest, he (Iqbal) stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis for the last one week.”
What happened between the 2 countries?
Pakistan intentionally delayed the visa renewal of Muhammad Iqbal after Dhaka refused to accept the nomination of the New High Commissioner of Pakistan to Bangladesh for over a year. In March 2018, Pakistan Foreign Ministry proposed Saqlain Syedah as its new High Commissioner to Bangladesh, which was refused by Bangladesh.
Post this, Bangladesh had asked Pakistan for an alternative nomination which Pakistan has not yet provided. Saqlain Syedah is now serving as High Commissioner to Kenya. Also, Foreign secretary-level talks have not taken place between the two countries for the past 4 years.
Besides, tension between Pakistan and Bangladesh also escalated after 2013 when Bangladesh decided to hang several of the 1971 India Pakistan war criminals.
The Impact on Pakistan
The move of not providing visas can further worsen the economic prospects of cash strapped Pakistan which is lobbying hard to exit from the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FAFT).
For the records, the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack was planned and executed by Pakistan based terror group, Jaish-E-Mohammad (JeM) which killed more than 40 Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) personnel in India. Later at United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Germany, France, U.S. and U.K. lobbied to ensure that JeM Chief – Masood Azhar, who is living in Pakistan, is declared a global terrorist. Though China made several attempts to save its friend Pakistan, UNSC had to eventually declare Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
Separately, the Pakistani Rupee has been falling against the United States (U.S.) dollar following an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a U.S. $ 6 billion loan with expected strict conditions including a market determined exchange rate.
