No foreign diplomat has sought meeting with Imran so far

Source: The News International

ISLAMABAD: No foreign diplomat posted in Islamabad has made a submission to the government so far for a meeting with PTI's founding chairman Imran Khan, who is serving a sentence in prison.

In case such a request is made, the Foreign Office will process the plea considering its merits and forward it to the interior ministry that will arrange such a meeting through the provincial government after ascertaining the consent of the convict.

The question has arisen in the wake of a US Congressional hearing at Capitol Hill on Wednesday where a US Congressman urged in a sub-committee hearing that the US ambassador should visit Imran in jail.

Well-placed sources told The News here Thursday that as per practice a foreign diplomat could meet an inmate of his own country in a Pakistani jail. A distinguished diplomat and a former ambassador of Pakistan to France, Ghalib Iqbal, said to a query that no such meeting ever had taken place in prison where a foreign diplomat was given access to a Pakistani citizen.

Mr Iqbal, who had also served as Chief of Protocol state of Pakistan, said that in case a diplomat requests for a meeting with his country fellow detainee, the administration has to follow a procedure set out for that purpose.

In the meanwhile the administration can study a request for permission of a meeting with any diplomat of a foreign country including of the US posted in Islamabad if made by Imran. The administration will have to study the prison rules and follow the procedure provided in it.