The government of Pakistan on Friday rubbished reports as 'misleading' which claimed about provision of visa facility on arrival to Israeli citizens despite having no diplomatic ties with Israel.
"A government spokesperson has denied a misleading news item carried by a section of press regarding provision of visa facility to Israeli citizens on arrival at Pakistani airports," said Press Information Department in a statement.
The spokesperson also stated in categorical terms that Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. "Consequently the provision of visa [facility to Israeli citizens] does not arise," it stated.
The spokesperson also expressed hope that the media should take the version of the government before publishing and telecasting such 'sensitive' news.
Since coming into power following the July 25 general elections, controversies continues to haunt Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government especially with regard to Israel which Pakistan has never recognised.
Firstly, there was a claim made by an Israeli journalist in October last year about the arrival of a mysterious plane which allegedly took off from Israel and landed in Pakistan, stayed on the ground for 10 hours, and then flew back to Tel Aviv. However, the government of Pakistan denied any such plane flown from Tel Aviv to have landed at any airport of the country.
Secondly, there was another controversy on December 31, 2018 when the immigration wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) issued rules and regulations for citizens of seven countries including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nigeria, Somalia, Palestine, and Israel, conditionally allowing citizens of these countries to visit Pakistan. However, it was later described as a 'mistake' to have included the name of Israel in the list.
To a question by Business Recorder in the last weekly media briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal referred this correspondent to Ministry of Interior being the appropriate dealing department with visa related issues. However, he insisted that Pakistan does not recognise Israel.
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