US embassy says consular operations in Pakistan ‘normal and unchanged’

In this file photo, a man is holding a Pakistani passport. (AFP/file)

The US Department of State earlier this week placed Pakistan on its list of foreign countries sanctioned for denying or delaying accepting one or more of its nationals subject to a final order of removal from the United States. (AFP/File)

• 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

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.