LAHORE, May 22: A delay by Federal Interior Ministry in visa formalities for three of the seven foreign participating teams of the AFC President’s Cup led to the postponement of the tournament which was scheduled to be held here from May 17 to 27.

According to the information gathered by Dawn, the PFF had sent letters to the Pakistani missions in all the seven participating countries on April 16 to issue the visas to the respective teams. However, only four countries managed to get the visas while the remaining three - Kyrgyhstan, Tajkistan and Bhutan - failed to get it on time for the tournament.

On May 7, the representatives of the three nations contacted PFF through AFC, informing the authorities that Pakistani missions in their respective countries required more time to get clearance from Islamabad. The AFC then advised the PFF to take a prompt action to ensure their visas till May 13 but it could not materialise.

When contacted, the PFF secretary Ahmed Yar Lodhi said there a delay of just 24 hours, unfortunately, jeopardised the event. "We had sent a special officer to Islamabad to remain in constant contact with the interior ministry over the visas but since May 13 was a Sunday, the deadline passed,” said Lodhi. “The visas for all three countries were issued on May 14th after getting clearance from the interior ministry but it was too late by then.”