 "South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir accuses Pakistan consulate in Birmingham of 'humiliating' him and his family")
Imran Tahir, Pakistani-born South African cricketer, who is also a member of the World XI squad that is to tour Pakistan for the Independence Cup in Lahore later this month, has accused the Pakistan consulate in Birmingham of ‘humiliating’ him and his family when they tried to apply for a visa to travel to the country. [caption id=“attachment_3225470” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Imran Tahir. Image courtesy: Twitter @OfficialCSA[/caption] “I have undergone a very unfortunate situation in the Pakistani consulate (in) Birmingham today (on Tuesday),” Tahir tweeted on 5 September. The 38-year old, then, explained how he had visited the consulate to acquire Pakistani visas for himself and his family but he had go “through the painful trauma of waiting for long 5 hours” and being “expelled by the staff explaining that the office hours are over and they are closing the consulate.” “It was only after the intervention of (Pakistan) High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who instructed the staff that we were issued visas,” he added. “It’s an irony that being Pakistani origin South African cricketer and intending to play in World XI, (I) was treated so miserably,” Tahir remarked.
Me with my family were humiliated & expelled from Pak High Commission earlier today when I went to get visa to play for WorldXI in Pakistan pic.twitter.com/VByiqV4oFh
— Imran Tahir (@ImranTahirSA) September 4, 2017
However, contrary to what Tahir claimed, a report in Dawn has stated that the Pakistan High Commission in London helped Tahir and the complication had happened due to the lack of ‘additional processes’ that the player and his family required. The report also claimed that, “the time taken in issuing visas was due to non-filling out of four applications, non-availability of supporting documents and additional processing required in respect of visas for holders of a third country.” After seeing the tweet, Pakistan’s interior minister Ahsan Iqbal promised that action would be taken against the officials. Tahir is the not the only South African in the World XI squad. Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, David Miller and Morne Morkel were also included in the touring party which will be coached by Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower. The three T20Is between World XI and Pakistan will be played on 12, 13 and 15 September.
