Imran Tahir humiliated by Pakistan high commission on visit to get visa for World XI series

Reuters

New Delhi: South African spinner Imran Tahir, who is a part of the World XI squad that is to visit Pakistan for short T20 series in bid to revive cricket in the country, recently claimed to be humiliated by the Pakistan high commission during his visa procurement process for the series.

Tahir, who recently joined the micro-blogging website Twitter, posted a tweet explaining what happened with him.

"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," Tahir tweeted.

Here's the long message Tahir posted:

"I have undergone a very unfortunate situation in the Pakistani Consulate Birmingham today. I had visited Consulate to secure our Pakistani visas with my family members. After going through the painful trauma of waiting for long 5 hours I was expelled by the staff explaining that the office hours are over and they are closing the Consulate. It was only after the intervention of High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who instructed the staff that we were issued visas. It's an irony that being Pakistani origin South African Cricketer and intended to play in World XI was treated so miserably. Hats off to High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who rescued me," wrote Tahir.

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

Clarifying the allegations made by Tahir, the Pakistan High Commission in London clarified that Tahir was assisted by the consulate staff and it was because the cricketer and his family members held South African passports that 'additional processes' were required.

The high commission also added 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".

"When the high commissioner came to know about the matter, he immediately intervened and gave necessary approval after which the visas were issued the same day," the statement further said.

In response to Tahir's complaint, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said action would be taken against those responsible for it.

"Imran sorry to read your post. We will have this investigated and action will be taken against those responsible," Iqbal tweeted.

Imran sorry to read your post. We will have this investigated and action will be taken against those responsible. — Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) September 5, 2017

Tahir has played 20 Tests for South Africa and has 57 wickets to his name, but it is the the shorter formats of the game where he has made his name known, picking up 132 wickets in 78 ODIs and 55 wickets in 31 T20Is.

The Pakistan vs World XI matches will be played in Lahore on September 12, 13 and 15.