ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Consulate General in Jalalabad, which remained closed for over one month, will resume its visa operations from Monday, the Foreign Office announced on Sunday.

“Pakistan’s Consulate General in Jalalabad which was closed on 30th August 2018 will resume its visa operations, after assurances by the Afghan government that all necessary and requi­red security will be provided to the Consulate Generals,” said an official statement.

“All visa applicants in Jalalabad and surrounding areas within the jurisdiction of the Consulate Gene­ral could now apply for visa with the Consulate General with effect from Monday 8th October 2018,” it added.

Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal in a tweet said the decision had been made after assurances by the Afghan government that all necessary and requi­red security will be provided to the consulate generals.

Pakistan had closed the consulate after Nangarhar Governor Hayatullah Hayat interfered in its working. Pakistan termed the intervention a complete violation of the Vienna Convention of the Consular Relations, 1963 and its embassy in Kabul had asked the Afghan authorities to honour the diplomatic privileges enjoyed by the consulate under international treaties.

According to Afghan media, the governor had tried to force Pakistani staff to change the visa issuance system. That step provoked the embassy, which had already been upset over the demolition of a security wall by the Afghan authorities, to suspend the operations.

Article 31 of the Vienna Convention pertaining to inviolability of the consular premises states: “The authorities of the receiving State shall not enter that part of the consular premises which is used exclusively for the purpose of the work of the consular post except with the consent of the head of the consular post or of his designee or of the head of the diplomatic mission of the sending State.”

The decision of Pakistan put the Afghan visitors into trouble as, after the closure of Consulate, the number of Afghan nationals visiting Pakistan with valid travel documents was dropped by 20 per cent because they had to travel all the way to Pakistan Embassy, located in Kabul, to get visa.

A large number of Afghan students, patients, businessmen, truck drivers and others come to Pakistan and they have to get visa for it but going to Kabul meant extra time and money for a large number of people who wanted to visit Pakistan.

In mid-September, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his maiden visit to Kabul underscored the need for enhanced coordination between the two countries in counterterrorism efforts with an offer to train personnel of Afghan police and other law-enforcement agencies at Pakistani institutions.

Mr Qureshi conveyed to the Afghan leadership that the new government in Islamabad attached importance to its relations with Afghanistan and would work towards further deepening cooperation in the fields of trade, development and connectivity.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2018