Pakistan's family gets Indian visa for child's surgery

Islamabad: India on Friday granted medical a visa to Pakistan-based four-month-old Rohaan, who is suffering from a heart ailment.

The Indian government had not issued medical visas to Pakistani residents since three months. The plea of the ailing child gained strength on social media and finally caught the attention of Indian external affairs minister Sashimi Sara.

Upon the request of Roan’s father, the Indian High Commission issued the four-month-old a medical visa. The father, Knawel Sadie, had initially applied for a visa in Uttar Pradesh, though it was not accepted.

Mr Sadie’s friends advised him to use social media to contact Indian officials, following which he sent tweets to Ms Swaraj, who promptly replied to his plea on Twitter, after which the family was granted the visas. However, they are still awaiting passports. Rohaan will undergo a heart surgery in Uttar Radish’s JP Hospital.

For the past three months, Pakistanis are  facing hurdles in receiving medical visas from India. The Pakistani Foreign Office had raised the matter with the Indian HC earlier as well.

Meanwhile, two men assaulted an Iranian photojournalist, working at the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), on Friday in Islamabad. Zee Shan Ali was taking photographs, depicting the observance of Ramadan in Pakistan, in Islamabad’s G-8 Sector when armed men assaulted him and stole his equipment at gunpoint.

When Mr Ali resisted, the assailants stabbed him with a knife and fled, leaving him injured.

Eyewitnesses immediately informed the IRNA office and the bureau chief had Zee Shan shifted to a hospital. The incident was also reported to the police.

Mr Ali, who has been an active IRNA photojournalist for many years, also takes photos at cultural, social, political and sports-related events in Pakistan published daily on the Iranian website.