RAWALPINDI: A court in Rawalpindi on Tuesday handed over the custody of blacklisted US national Matthew Craig Barrett to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a three-day physical remand.

Barrett, who was picked up by FIA and police officials in a joint raid on a guest house in the capital, has claimed that he had come back to Pakistan to explore the possibility of permanently moving here.

A case has been registered against two FIA immigration officials.

The FIA booked Barrett under the Foreigners Act and the Pakistan Customs Act.

This is the second time that the enforcement agencies have arrested Mr Barrett. Earlier, he was arrested in May 2011, a few days after US navy seals killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad.

Following his arrest, his wife Banosha Khan had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Islamabad High Court but the petition was dismissed. However, Barrett was released later on.

The FIA on Tuesday informed the duty magistrate that though Barrett’s visa was valid until Dec 11, 2011, at the time of his arrest in May that year, its term was reduced at the request of an intelligence agency to June 4, 2011, and he was asked to leave Pakistan. But instead of going back, he had gone into hiding and was arrested at a residence in sector E-11 days after his visa expired.

After Barrett’s recent arrest, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the grant of a Pakistani visa to him.

Meanwhile, the interior minister on Tuesday told Pakistan’s Ambassador in the United States, Jalil Abbass Jilani, to ensure adherence to the relevant rules and regulations in issuance of visas.

The direction was given when the ambassador called on the minister here. Pakistan-US relations and recent statements of US officials also came under discussion during the meeting. The minister observed that uncalled-for criticism of Pakistan’s role in the war on terror could strain relations between the two countries and obstruct achievement of common objectives.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2016