News
Pak students face difficulty in getting US visa
KARACHI, Aug 09 : The Acting Consul General of the US, Ms Kay Anske has admitted that many of the youths face difficulties in acquiring student visas for higher education in the United States.
She was answering questions at an inaugural session of a three-day International Youth Conference here.
"I will not deny that there have been certain difficulties in the past and these related to the unfortunate incident of 9/11 and still continued with the same situation," she opined and added that it is unfortunate that so many people were the victim of this disaster.
Still she said the world is facing the same miseries, continuing with her point of view with regard to the visa issuance, she pointed out that US visas are being processed in Islamabad which takes time.
But, she pointed this is not only the case in Pakistan, it is across the board and similar treatment is meted out to the students in other countries in the region.
In response to a question "Why there is no participation by the US youth in this conference?" she said, "I believe, this is a regional conference mainly based on the South Asian Countries."
A delegation from India was also invited to this conference but to the dismay of all, Pakistan government denied visa to them.
Worth mentioning here that conference was to be held last month but was postponed due to the change in visa policy of Pakistan government, but was assured that after necessary requirements the delegation would be issued visa.
The question of non-issuance of visa also came under discussion with the Acting US Consul General who also expressed concern that India-Pakistan having entered into a peaceful dialogue and the denial of visa is ‘strange’, she remarked.
Furthermore, the organiser consistently stated that the governor of Sindh has shown keen interest in empowerment of the youth, but to the surprise of all, the front row where VIPs were to be seated were vacant and no government dignitaries nor any other important personalities were present.
The conference was organised as the world is celebrating International Youth Day. Speaking on the occasion, the acting consul general said that the US consulate general has donated $10,000 to help pay for some of the international participants. The youths from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were participating in this conference while there was no representative from any other part of the world.
She further said that the United States is a strong believer in the empowerment of youth and are glad to support an initiative that provides a platform to discuss regional issues.
She said that youths should discuss the issues with an open mind and asked to evaluate the programme using standard comprehensive assessment techniques and the result will help guide the direction of the future programme.
Highlighting the issues, she said there are some difficult issues like gender equality, human rights, trafficking in women and children, drug abuse, street children, peace between India and Pakistan.
She maintained that these issues are not solely relevant to Pakistan or any one of the countries that have sent participants, rather they are regional and in truth, global issues.
She said this Youth JAM is designed to bring together youth activists from the varied countries of South Asia to discuss many of these difficult issues and the participation of youth and commitment. It ‘WILL’ make a difference, she vowed.
Dr Syed Muhammed Ali Shah Adviser to Sindh governor urged the youth to concentrate towards acquiring knowledge rather than playing politics.
The youths present on the occasion were of the opinion that politics and students cannot be separated rather would go along but in a constructive manner. They were of the view that it is the politicians who should play their role in a positive manner.