Chilean citizen stranded in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A Chilean citizen, who was originally from Pakistan, was left stranded in Pakistan without a passport.

Asim Nasim Siddique has been in the country since November 6 last year after travelling here to visit his mother who is unwell. Since, his Chilean passport -- due to expire on January 19, 2016 -- needed to be renewed, so he got an appointment with the Chilean Consulate in Abu Dhabi for October 11, 2015.

However, a strike at the Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (the Chilean public service in charge of registering civil statuses of persons) delayed the process of renewal of his passport, forcing him to return back to Pakistan because his visa -- valid for one month -- was expiring in the meantime.



The Chilean consulate in Abu Dhabi advised him to issue power of attorney to his brother, who lives in Sharjah, to collect his passport and other documents. Now his brother has been facing difficulty in dispatching the documents to Pakistan because no courier service is willing to carry out the transaction without first getting a letter from the Ministry of Interior.

Siddique, through a letter, requested the interior ministry to intervene and resolve this issue. However, he didn’t get a reply to his application, which he submitted on March 11, so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2016.