- 13 May 2011
Us embassy statement: Visa policy misconceptions clarified - 13 May 2011
Visas for Americans create rifts in Pakistan - 03 May 2011
Bin laden’s death: US visas not affected: officer - 30 Apr 2011
US visa applications
Ban was issued due to difficult security conditions in the five countries, say media reports.
Kuwait has banned nationals from five countries, including Pakistan, from entering the Gulf country, according to immigration sources quoted by Kuwaiti media.
The ban, imposed on nationals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, includes suspending all tourism, visit and trade visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses, Kuwaiti media reported.
The ban was attributed to the “difficult security conditions in the five countries” and to “the remarkably increasing tendency of nationals from the five countries to apply for visas to bring in relatives who faced or could face arrest by local authorities,” said the reports.
The sources said the authorities insisted that no exception in the visa application will be welcomed.
However, they also mentioned that the ban was temporary and would be lifted once the security situation was stabilised.
Pakistan has come under intense international pressure after a unilateral operation by the US on May 2, in which the world’s most wanted man Osama bin Laden was killed. Bin Laden was found hiding a stone’s throw from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2011.
More in Pakistan
Annual audit : Irregularities found in CAA procurements
Didn’t Zardari visit there only 2-3 weeks ago?
We should tell Kuwait to take their oil and get lost. The pathetic people there can’t even defend their own land – they need to pay outsiders to do so.Recommend
O great,the pot calling the kettle black !!
it was the arabs who exported their religious fanaticism to our country in the first place.What we’ve become is because of the arabs because our society wasn’t so islamic fundamentalist a few decades ago.It was because of saudi arabia,UAE & Iran that our public is so obsessed with mind numbing,repititve religious rituals.
All this ‘Allah hafiz’ instead of ‘khuda hafiz’ , the forced inclusion of ‘mashallah’, ‘ inshallah’ into each & every sentence,the wearing of the abaya & hijab.These are all foreign things which saudi funding has promoted in our country.
we had people like Farhat hashmi propagating her myopic,misogynistic,hate filled ,bigoted ideology in five star hotels.She has brainwashed a generation of girls into hating their gender & feeling ashamed of their bodies & this shame can only be reduced by hiding behind layers & layers of cloth to hide their sinful bodies from men.
we should clean up our own house as we have fallen to the point that the arabs are now banning us.Recommend
could Pak do the same to ban all Saudi funded madsaara’s and start gawadar port soon by any mean. Recommend
@San, Its Kuwait and I hope you know they are different countries, as for the Saudis are concerned closing the Saudi schools would have not affect them on them at all, albeit if the Saudis stop the deffer payment scheme for oil to Pakistan then that could affect us quite a bit.Recommend
The situation is alarming, but it is not the time to wait and see. No time for defensive response, rather an offensive response. We have to show also that what we are and what we can do in the international politics. Recommend
Kuwaitis have no common sense when it comes to diplomacy. Why Iran? Why Syria? Why Pakistan?
If Iranis/Pakistanis/Syrians
are going around the world, how come only Kuwait is endangered?Recommend
Ungreatfull people, very sorry nation with sorry people..
I hope the Pakistani people raise and punish them for doing this. Recommend
So much for being our “Muslim BROTHERZZz” eh?Recommend
We dnt need kuwait if our leaders say they represent nation at once close the kuwait embassy in pakistan and close pakistans embassy in kuwait. Stupid kuwatis these are the people who sold them self to americans and can’t defend their country but beg other counteries. To give them soldiers to defend them coward kuwaitisRecommend
@faraz salman:
all that u mentioned, is not ARAB FORCED, it is in accordance with ISLAMIC teaching, dont u brag about the sentences of NFP, im sick of it.
@Kuwaiti Authorities:
You dont have people to work for your country, why are you taking such childish steps to screw out the small diplomatic help you could get from Pakistan and the other 4 countries ?Recommend
I know many Pakistanis in the west – they all complain of visa issues in europe and US / Canada. Outsiders are not allowed into china for work so I think only south east asia is left, Once the likes of Singapore etc start reducing Pakistani influx then what ? Recommend
@Raza:
I agree, that tin pot country can get lost. However your comments made me smile because it almost sounds like Pakistan, i,e depending on others to defend us and pay our bills.Recommend
PAKISTAN must reciprocate by banning Visa’s to Kuwaiti’s immediately!Recommend
@san:
So we intend to fight the world rather than look inward and see why all this is happening.Recommend
Great .. I swear if Pakistan doesnt put its foot at this … others countries are going to follow. No one really cares about kuwait. Recommend
@S. Ali Raza:
you may end up banning all of the countries…Recommend
Ok, so i as a pakistani cannot visit kuwait? thats kind of pejorative and demeaning. Hell Kuwait, you stepped forward to mark the beginning of visa denial and heck blatantly on ethnic discrimination. something, not even west did even though hated the most in the region encircled by the countries mentioned..you lack brains and guts to tackle things head on..
get stuffed, i never wanted to visit you anyways. sticks out tongueRecommend
I believe, kuwaities dint like china getting the control of gawadar port… its as simple as anything…Recommend
@faraz salman:
thanks for this comment, glad to see some of my countrymen still possess discernmentRecommend
Gilani Visited on 14 Feb, Zardari visited on 24 Feb … only for this? Do we have any self respect? Shame!! Recommend
Guys take a breath…. look at reasons of being the pariah…. it is time we did some soul search also.Recommend
@Yousaf:
If we had any self respect we would not have presented ourselves to the highest bidder… going and knoodling with China is no less selling yourself. It is our national pshyce…Recommend
A blessing in disguise.Recommend
It’s pretty bad when your Muslim brothers are the first to isolate Pakistan — just a taste of what might be ahead if you don’t clean up your act.Recommend
LOL, where is the Ummah brigade now? :-DRecommend
the useless pakistani embassy in kuwait is doing nothing… its another slap in our faces. if the pakistani government doesnt take a step, they’ll soon be throwing all pakistani expats like us, out of the country…Recommend
whatever happend to the muslim ummah?Pakistan being the citadel of Islam!!!Recommend
Lol its funny to see the tide quickly turning against Kuwait in Pakistani forums. After Saudi and UAE, now its Kuwait. What next? :)Recommend
Why Kuwait did not ban Iraq, India, BD and SL? USA should not have helped Kuwait when Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait in 1990Recommend
Is this the begining of Global Isolation???????????????????Recommend
Banning visitors from Kuwait is a serious foreign policy lapse for Pakistan. It means we do not trust your citizens so please excuse us for issuing visas.Recommend
@Khalid Ahmed:
Well we lived in this cuckoo land concept called Ummah… there never was one and by the look of things there wont be one…. Arabs first…. this is what is believed we dont know where we stand so sometime in lap of US and sometime in lap of China…Recommend
@Ravee:
Do you blame them? Read all the pro Al Qaeda messaging we all do then you say they dont trust us….Recommend
@Sathish Reddy:
No we can still go to North Korea, Somalia and Afghanistan without any problem,Recommend
Government of Pakistan should also ban entry of Kuwaiti nationals into Pakistan, until Kuwait lift the ban. This has to be on reciprocal basis. Recommend
@Sunny Deol Pakistani:
Agreed USA should not have helped Kuwait for banning Pakistani visa when Pakistan is sitting in China’s lap… makes alot of sense.Recommend
Thanks to our undevotional love especially from our punjabi brothers to like to decorate the arabs on their foreheads like crowns.
God Damnit we are the people of the Great Civilization of Indus, time to get some self-respect.
Why wasn’t India banned?
The answer, is simple: Those who are self-respecting are respected by others aswell. Recommend
This is more of a secular move rather than the ban on countries… and the will remove it after some time. As the Abu Dhabi appointed Black Water to stop possible revolution. This step is also the one to curtail such activities.Recommend
So Pakistanis always felt they were part of Arabia, not the sub-continent, right? Can anybody confirm this? Where is your universal Islamic brotherhood now?Recommend
@Malik: Yea They must be looking to do for port control and later handing over to US, same as UAE did for the base. Recommend
what happens if they banned us. We just want europe. America. Why kuwait? So hot country,Recommend
What will happen to us now??
We are being targeted world around.
US is behind this.. Kuwaitis would pay for this.. we should send some JF-17s ASAP.. even J-20 prototype will do.Recommend
Guys, this is just a hoax. It is not a news that has been verified or confirmed by anyone. If you looks closely, you will notice that this hoax has been started by a north indian newspaper daijiworld.com.
Kuwait immigration has no information about his ban as there is no ban on visas to Pakistanis.Recommend
Wow – if things deteriorate with the American’s I can see this happening with most of the Western World but if the Muslim World doesn’t want you either then your problems are bigger than I thought. Recommend
This is the true face of Ummah.. its all by ourselves now.. US and it puppets are doing shadow boxing against Pakistan.
Time to scramble some thunders and keep the US out of our airspace and vicinity.Recommend
Dear Friends,
do you now agree that Pakistan is a failed nation now? Oh by the way is India on the list…..Recommend
Hey! Kuwaitis and Pakistanis are both Arabs. Then why this discrimination?!Recommend
The day Gawadar opens, will be the day all these semantics would be burried!!…its only a matter of time!!
Everything else happening around you is a diversion.Recommend
Kuwaitis can go to any distance to please Americans/Europeans ….
I wish they would be attacked again by some other Saddam HusseinRecommend
Pakistan is being isolated because they have shown some courage recently against US. USA will force gulf countries to put pressure on us to make us act lika a well behaved dog for them.Recommend
@rk singh:
Pakistan a failed state ? i dont think so. Pakistani Govt. a failure ? oh yes it is!Recommend
thats kind of funny because the last time i visited kuwait, the airport was filled with American soldiers!!! so much for being a sovereign nation. Recommend
What about suspending the diplomatic relations for a while? Pakistan really needs to show its teeth to anyone who tries in any way to defame or humiliate Pakistan. This is the time to do it or we would be treated like Ivory Coast or Guinea in the years to come…….Recommend
Wake upRecommend
wonder what happened here as Pakistan was supposed to be the leader of the Muslim Ummah..no?Recommend
Imran Khan should arrange ‘dharna’ in front of Kuwaiti consulate and embassy rather than deprive the local transporters of their livelihood irrespetive of whose goods they carry upcountry or to Afghanistan. Recommend
this is CIA MOSSAD conspiracy to stop Pakistan for leading Muslim Ummah by dividing muslim brotherhoodRecommend
nice……….descion……….about u r new changRecommend
Qatar has also banned Visa for Pakistani Nationals. The biggest victims of so-called War Against Terrorism is Pakistan. Pakistan Lost more than 35,000 innocent people, Economy becomes weakened & at d end we got banned from entering into Muslim countries.
Where are our leaders????? We need our leaders to wake up & Take action! Recommend
pak is getting more isolated day by day.Recommend
Bravo! And what did our Govt do in response…did they even bother to comment ooops i
forgot they were busy dealing with the OBL issue….and when i say dealing i mean
sleeping………way 2 go….!Recommend
I had an indirect experience with a kuwaiti when he ran over my uncle near uthal in balochistan. He showed typical arab arrogance. I think pakistan should reciprocate the ban. Recommend
The unofficial ban has been since long time a year ago self was refused visa citing issuance of visa to Pakistani is banned.
I think we as Pakistani have an self respect then we should reciprocate more strongly, all
entry of Kuwatis in Pakistan be banned till this is lifted, call the Ambasador make strong
protest and recall our ambasador.Recommend
@Haider:
Totally… this will raise us from status like that is given to Somalia and come to status one up. If I may tell you… getting Chinese visa is not so easy they take more time for the close friends Pakistani than for the enemy India to enter China… so what should we do about that….
By the way not many Kuwaitis are coming anyway and those who are choosing to come we shouldnt really have them so good idea please ban the kuwaitis
Anyone on mind to punish?Recommend
@Hedingen:
Turned into Arab Ummah…. Recommend
@Salam Alvi:
Oh yeah true it is a hoax… by the way it is in Gulf News also…. dont worry it has all our favourites.. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan… for whom we are ready to ditch ourselves so lets be brave all for the brothers.Recommend
@saad:
So true… and we have our thumbs in our mouth and we are letting it happen even after knowing it…. absolutely… world is bad.. we are good… too good. Sub jultay hain hum sai… Recommend
Visas are banned from long time. We tried to apply could not get because of security clearance even it was approved by interior ministry. Don’t think that banned is not confirmed. It is banned.Recommend
Family Visa also ban ?Recommend
It would effect the Pakistanis working in KuwaitRecommend
@Ahmed:
Let loose the dogs of war (M/s Hafeez Sayed, Masood Ahzhar & co) on Kuwait?Recommend
@Sunny Deol Pakistani:
Right! Blame the US for the present state of things.Recommend
@Prince:
Forget USA , forget Europe, China is the in thing now.Recommend
@Dinaj Ahmad:
Hope none of your thunders are at Mehran/Faisal, Karachi at present.Recommend
Kuwait is a terrorist country and funding terririst Madrassas in Pakistan.
Why dont the Kuwaitees with their haram money open those terrorist Madrassas in their own country, and not in PakistanRecommend
Dear RK singh
What type of answers r u looking for? You are still putting up questions when no one is interested in responding you.
Obviously, you’ll be happy as today Pakistan’s position is beacuse of India & Israel exported terrorism. You should be really happy that you as a tax payer of India is getting the right of use of your money. May be you should concentrate more on improving living conidtions of slums in india.
Now plz dont start a new row of arguments here. Recommend
isolating pakistan may be dangerious for the world, as the Pakistan is fighting war for the world and it is a front line state. Sacrificing more than any country of the world.
Amazing….. some one has banned visa for Pakistanis……. shame…Recommend
Isolatin Pakistan may be dangerious for the World. Pakistan is fighting a war for the survival of the Whole world. It is a front line state and has strictly stopped terror to go across its borders. Sacrified more than any other country of the world.
Amazing ……. some one has banned visa for Pakistan…..Shame.Recommend
Who the hell want to visit Kuwaiti desert specially in the summer! Kuwaiti is destinations for lizards.Recommend
@PersianPeninsola:
Sour grapes.Recommend
I am from Kuwait and I think the racial and religious bigotry here in the comments is insulting.
Do you think we choose our government democratically in Kuwait? No. Imagine blaming the Egyptians in the time of Husni Mubarak for something his government bans, its the same thing for us.
All the countries on the list are Muslim countries, and its painful to see people being banned like that. But you have to understand that there are people like me in Kuwait who want changes in our government and what they are doing to people from other countries.
Your hate will not help your cause. Try to see the bigger picture, we never choose these officials.Recommend
Countdown start. Pakistani Passport will good for Pakistan only to visit from one state to another state. Recommend
well its the economy stupid, Kuwait cannot risk annoying India..
Pakistan needs to fix its economy & image,,,and it needs to send professionals to work aboard not laborers (who are mostly illiterate & easily manipulated for terrorist activities) …
No Arab thinks or care’s of the average south Asian Muslim as equals, just as cattle for toiling in the sun…. ( Largest segment of the business community in most GCC countries are from India – hard for the local governments to overlook their contribution, there lies a major difference) Recommend
They even tease the transit passengers and even misbehave and embarrass Govt of Pakistan officials traveling on official passports. So ,,,,,,imagine the respect levelRecommend
Saudis and Kuwaitis, what are they proud of, and what are their achievments? Getting rich by selling blessing (oil) of Allah does not make them smart. They produced Osama and extremism and exported to Pakistan. What have they contributed to the betterment of the world? The answer is simple. Zilch-Nada-Nothing-Zero-CypherRecommend
All ‘muslim brothers’ seems to be ditching Pakistan one by one – inspite of Pakistanis trying to be more loyal to the throne than the King!!
All that Arab-master worshiping and efforts at Arabicising Pakistani languages seems to have not got any result!!
It;s high time Pakistanis learnt to be Pakistanis and stop playing servant of the US, then Arabs and now Chinese!!Recommend
@Aamir: what courage exactly,they(usa) came,they saw and then put some bullets in bin laden and then left,what courage?Recommend
And this is our brother Muslim country. That is why we dont rely on these countries and befriends with non-Muslim states. Pakistan should do the same. Ban everything for Kuwait. Recommend
Kuwaitis are much more biased than any other nation in the world. We needed their support right now.. Instead they banned visas for Pakistanis.. CRAP!!!!!!!!!! wot was zardari’s purpose of tour then???????????? Shame on Kuwait nonetheless…… Recommend
so much for the love of ummah , duh!Recommend
Self Respect, We lost in others interests. Now how we can claim any favor from the world? Be realistic & productive to get your respect back. Reko Diq, Thar, Bhasha, Gawadar & many more opportunities are available we should pressurize our leaders (Not experienced) to start these projects in order to ignite our economy. Recommend
@ Faraz Salman:
Come on Mr Faraz.. Analyze yourself, are you a muslim? Are you sure you are? Give me a break man you are saying that the women who are hiding themselves are doing wrong? the people who say mashAllah, inshAllah are doing wrong? lolz. My dear you really need a doctor or may be you should change your religion because Allah SW has told all these things. Are you challenging Allah SW? You really are miserable. Whatever the circumstance is you have no right to say this all. Recommend
@faraz salman:
Shame on you for being a bigot. If Islamic traditions are not yours..then what are your traditions? You are the one who is ashamed of the truth and the ideology of Islam. Shame on you for promoting secularism in a country built for Islam and Muslims. If you hate Islamic values so much, then you can go back to India or immigrate to one of your master’s country. Let us see what the Hindu reigious zealots and right wing politicians do to you in non Muslim countries. It will be interesting to see how your immigration to ..lets say Denamark…be treated by the extreme right wing pro christian extremists there. You disown your own and you are rejected by others.. What a plight…May Allah save us from this deception.Recommend
Where are maulvis who constantly talk of “Ummah” now ? Its for the sake of this Ummah that Pakistan has destroyed itself by “helping” our Muslim brethren in Kashmir/Afghanistan, now we get banned from Kuwait and are undesirable in other parts of “Ummah”.Recommend
@umair:
Well let’s see.. We are the country begging around the world for money.. not Kuwait. When can we get our facts right.
I mean false bravado is going to get us nothing. That is unfortunately what we have become. If we do not work towards reversing the trend, we will see many more countries isolate us by closing their doors on us.
Wake Up!!!Recommend
@Faraz Salman
You are joking or being sarcastic, arent you? Because no muslim with a sane mind can say what you said in you comments.
I hope the 140 recommendations you got for your rubbish comments are from non muslim friends.
The main problem of Pakistan is that the educated and elite people are horribly secular and the poor masses are religious but even they do not have complete and correct knowledge of Islam. So Majority of Pakistanis do not follow Islam correctly and then they blame their problems on Islam rather than blaming themselves and their ignorance.Recommend
@ Fahad
You are absolutely right my Kuwaiti Muslim Brother. If Muslims get knowledge of Islam and are able to chose their leaders who also follow the basic tenets of Islam then this muslim Ummat will be one and we will rule and be the super power.
InshaAllah this will happen whenever Allah (swt) wills. Recommend
Pakistan is the reason for bringing bad name and Reputation to the Muslim World. When you blast bomb in the mosques, kill the people on the road, bomb blast, etc etc You do a hell and you say where is the Ummah? >>>> U people should realize that india is your real friend. Unless you people will not stop terrorism you cannot become India’s friend. >>>> Time will come now, you people will be eating the aborted Fetus of Chinese people. >>>> You people are either misunderstanding or underestimating CHINA.
Now, we Muslims of INDIA is seeing your mistakes over mistakes committing and not repenting nor correcting it. You will get the worst result in future if you not realize your mistakes.Recommend
for the information of readers:
In Hong Kong, Indians are given Visa on arrival.
While Pakistanis have to take a visa prior to visiting. !!!Recommend
Poor reporting . Thanks to Jang ( monday) The Kuwaiti Embassy formaly and on its own initiative informed the foreign ministry that this news is “Bogus’.
Now, troll be gone!Recommend
@ Asad,
you are a guy who was supposed to be born in 7th century. By mistake you are here in 2011. Pity you are a misfit in this modern world. You are saying that secularism is a wrong thing. Beause of religious bigots like you, Pakistan is in this condition today. We are following Islam correctly. This is the reason, minorities are getting wiped out in Pakistan. The contribution of religion is NIL in modern society. Open your eyes. Respecting fellow humans is called secular. There is nothing horrible with this.Recommend
@faraz salman:
Totally agree with you. Couldnt agree more..Recommend
I’m a non-Muslim Pakistani, and stated it earlier: this whole ‘Ummah concept’ is pure lame. At least we have cultural and historical ties with India, even if a majority of its amabassors here are daydreaming about our destruction, but the whole Gulf, including the peoples there, see ANY South Asian – Pakistani/Bangladeshi or Indian/Sri Lankan, Muslim or Hindu, etc as toilet paper.
In fact, I’m glad: it will help to shape an implicit will for a secular Pakistani society, Jinnah’s Pakistan, amongst its peoples, as they’ll see that Muslim contributions to Pakistan is resumed by Zia ul Haq’s personna and its repercussions today. Religion should be a private thing, and not form our foreign policy.
And hope that our coward government ban any Arab/Muslim for “””security reasons”””
Khuda haf… Oh, I mean, wa’salam.Recommend
@Salam Alvi:
LOL
You are out of this world man
just Google it to get confirmation.Recommend
@faraz salman: May Allah SWT guide you. Recommend
@faraz salman
if on one side farhat hashmi have made girls ashmed of their bodies and brainwashed them to hid themselves in layers then on other side our open media / and people following your point of views have made the elite in O and A to be busy in rapping, i hope u have gone thru “Four O-Levels students booked in rape case” today.
Its better to be in layers than being raped and
mind u no one is ashmed of their bodies but proud becoz this body make them great mothers Recommend
This will benefit India and Bangladesh land all the vacant jobsRecommend
@Salam Alvi: Google “Kuwait bans visas for Pakistani, Afghan nationals” and see how many sites have the same news. It is true.Recommend
@ Benazir,
Indians do not do menial works like pakistanis. Period.Recommend
Get ready this is going to happen all over the worldRecommend
Nobody cares about Pakistan anywayRecommend
There is a famous saying that the beggars donot have a choice,, so its time to look into the mirror and find out that why our leadership is not responding to happenings,, one after another ,, another and so on,, how can they responed ,, bcoz beggars doesnot have a choice ,, remove the beggars from the pakistan ( *tussi samaj gayey ho na)* and you will be great nation,,, Inshah AllahRecommend
We helped them during the gulf war, what happened to Karma?Recommend
Saudi Arab, Kuwait, Dubai etc. leaders are the murderers of spiritualism and Sufism inside Pakistan, the aspects of religion that promote the real Islam as it is: soft and inviting, not radical and destructive as is proposed by the one imported from the said countries.Recommend
any one know those familes have enterd already in kuwait with new visa can they get residency?Recommend
May be it’s about time to say ‘Enough is Enough’ to those Arab countries who have used, abused and exploited Pakistan and its people’s land in many ways for their own selfish means and end. Also shame on the pathetic leadership the Pakistani people had to endure.
About time to say TaTa, goodbye and Khuda Hafiz to the abusers and exploiters of Pakistan. Pakistani leaders need to develop a spine and stop bowing down to these Arab countries unless they plan on settling there after destroying Pakistan.Recommend
Who is doing all this in Pakistan? whatever is happening.. Killing the innocent people,blasting in Masjids???? Our politicians are slaves of US.and India is happy to see us helpless but remember when we rise then everything will be fall. I never hate to anything but whatever the situation i saw in my life, i hate USA and INDIA. Why these two countries doing all this?? just for piece of earth? or they want to rule in all over the world? they can’t,and the history will let u know about it.. Recommend
Kuwait going to lift work and residential visa for five nationalities including Pakistan
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/170704/reftab/36/t/Kuwait-said-to-lift-work-visa-ban-on-5-nationalities/Default.aspxRecommend
when kawait visa are open for pakistaniiiiiiiiiiiiiRecommend
dear sir
i want to study in kuwait and job ..please tell what is the qualification to give a visa
Recommend