WASHINGTON, July 31: A senior Pakistani official was detained at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York for an entire night and was allowed to leave only after intensive efforts by the Pakistan Embassy, sources told Dawn.

Brig. Nisar Mehar, former IG (Prisons) Sindh who is now waiting for a posting, was stopped at the airport when he arrived from Pakistan on Thursday evening to visit her daughter who studies here.

US immigration officials are believed to have informed him that his name had appeared on a list of suspicious persons and they have to stop him for checking his credentials.

Mr Mehar, who had visited the US in May as well, was surprised as he never had any problem with the US immigration authorities before.

US officials continued to interrogate Mr Mehar till 9am on Friday and only allowed him to go when a senior official from the Pakistan Embassy came to the airport and certified that he was a senior police officer.