Trade fair: Visa denied to 100 Pak traders
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 16
The South Asian Trade Fair organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here has received a huge setback. The Ministry of External Affairs has refused visas to over 100 Pakistani nationals. The PHD chamber had sought visas for 147 Pakistanis, including small and big-time traders, but the ministry only approved 47 visas.
Pakistani traders claimed that after the surgical strike conducted by India, trade relations between the two nations have been hit. “As the Indian Government did not allow our workforce to come along, we are forced to work in front as well as behind the stalls,” said Faisal Azeem, a renowned restaurateur on Lahore Food Street. He was recently felicitated by Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal for participating in a food festival in Amritsar recently.
Not only traders, renowned Pakistani folk group Zafar Lohar from Sukheki Mandi Hafizabad was also not granted visa this time. With this, the plan of the PHD chamber to hold cultural evening with Pakistani artistes every day during the five-day expo has hit a roadblock.
RK Sachdeva, Chairman, Punjab Committee, PHD Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said the organisation had sought 85 dual visas for both the exhibitions at Jalandhar and Chandigarh after due approval of all the district and state-level departments. The last-minute denial of visas hads hit business at the recent exhibitions.
