Daily Times

NEW DELHI: Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said on Monday that visas will be issued to Pakistani patients on the recommendation of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

Last week, the Indian Embassy rejected the visa application of Faiza Tanveer, citing deteriorating relations between the two countries as the reason for refusal.

Tanveer was due to receive treatment at the Inderprastha Dental College and Hospital (IDCH) in Ghaziabad for a recurrent ameloblastoma, a cancerous oral tumour that is aggressive in nature. After Tanveer was denied her visa, she appealed to politicians in both the countries to help facilitate her application.

“I have my sympathies for all Pakistan nationals seeking medical visa for their treatment in India,” Swaraj said in the first of a series of tweets. “I am sure Sartaj Aziz also has consideration for the nationals of his country,” she said. “I see no reason why should he hesitate to give his recommendation for nationals of his own country.”

The Indian minister then brought up the issue of visa application of Avantika Jadhav, the mother of self-confessed Indian spy Kulbashan Jadhav, saying that it was pending in Pakistan. “We also have a visa application pending for an Indian national Avantika Jadhav who wants to meet her son in Pakistan,” she said.

Swaraj said Aziz had not acknowledged a personal letter she wrote to him, requesting Avantika’s visa application to be approved so that she may travel to meet her son, who was sentenced to death by a military tribunal in Pakistan on charges of espionage and terrorism earlier this year.

“But I assure Pakistan nationals seeking medical visa with a recommendation from Sartaj Aziz, we will issue the visa immediately,” Swaraj added in her final tweet.

Published in Daily Times, July 11^th , 2017.