BRITISH laptop diplomats based in Dubai need to improve their knowledge about the social, cultural and religious structure of Pakistani society, as they are rejecting visa applications of members of divided families to attend marriages and funerals by saying that “they don’t have strong economic or social ties with Pakistan” and will not “leave the UK”.

My application, along with that of my daughter (42) and sister (72), was rejected on flimsy grounds. We wanted to attend the marriage of my younger brother’s daughter. I was lucky to clear the presumption and misconception, but not my sister and daughter.

This knowledge is there in British media as expressed by Anatol Lieven, the correspondent of The Times in Pakistan for several years. He says in his book, Pakistan: a hard country: “...failure to turn up to the marriages or funerals, even of very distant cousins, will be taken as an insult which will severely affect future relations.”

The British government is requested to fill this gap of knowledge.

Imdad Ahmed Mian
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2015

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