August 13, 2006	Sunday	Rajab 17, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: Top judicial officials invited to a conference on rule of law in the US are staying away as the visa procedures appeared insulting to them.

“Although we were holding valid US visas, still we were asked to apply for a special visa, and then insulting attitude was shown to us at the embassy,” Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Malik Mohammad Qayyum regretted while talking to mediapersons here on Friday.

He said the US ambassador had forwarded an invitation to him to attend an international conference being held in Houston from September 3.

Similar invitations were also received by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, judges of the Supreme Court, Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Ali Ahmed Kurd, Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah and Senator S. M. Zafar, he said.

“Later, an official of the embassy informed us that to attend the conference we would need a special visa.”

He said when he applied for the special visa he was informed that he would be interviewed at the embassy.

“At the embassy I had to wait in the queue for long,” he said, adding after some time he lost patience and requested an official of the embassy to return the passport.

Mr Qayyum said the attorney general had also told him that the same thing had happened with him and he also left the embassy without a visa.

“I have been told that the chief justice, the judges of the apex court and the interior secretary have also politely declined the invitation to attend the conference,” he claimed.

“This is the state of our foreign policy that even top judicial officers are not spared and being treated in an insulting manner,” he deplored.