The United States Department of State, the Office of Consular Affairs, said Friday that American citizens should reconsider traveling to Pakistan “due to terrorism and potential for armed conflicts.”
After an offensive against illegal immigration launched shortly after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, assumed the position, the administration seems to reintroduce edges in travelers from several countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to a Reuters Report, the prohibition would prevent people from the listed countries from entering the US and could come into force from next week.
President Trump had issued an executive order on January 20, requiring an intensified security investigation of any foreigner seeking admission to the United States to detect national security threats.
That order had also ordered several cabinet members to present before March 12 a list of countries of which trips must be partly or completely suspended because their “research and detection information is very poor.”
The problem was raised twice during Thursday’s press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan avoided the questions, saying that he had not seen the report in question.
According to a periodic review of the US State Department. UU. Updated on March 7, US citizens should reconsider their trip to Pakistan as terrorism and the potential for armed conflict in the country prevail.
“Some areas have a higher risk,” said the review.
He advised citizens not to travel to the provinces of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including fused tribal districts, previously tribal areas administered by the Federal Government (Fata), due to terrorism.
In addition, he asked citizens to refrain from traveling immediately from the border between India and Pakistan and the control line due to terrorism and the potential of armed conflicts.
According to the country’s summary on the website, the State Department said that violent extremist groups continued to plan attacks, adding that the attacks were frequent in Baluchistan and KP.
While they cite the different scales of terrorist attacks in the region, the review said that “terrorism and current violence by extremist elements have led to indiscriminate attacks against civilians, as well as local military and police objectives.”
“Terrorists can attack with little or no warning, point to transport centers, markets, shopping centers, military facilities, airports, universities, tourist attractions, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities,” he said, and added that terrorists have attacked US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past.
He said the local government restricted the trip of the United States government staff working in Pakistan, stating that the United States had a limited capacity to provide services to US citizens in the KP, Baluchistan and most areas outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
“Due to the risks, the United States government staff working in Pakistan must obtain a special authorization to travel to most areas outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi,” he said.
“The embassy and consulates of the United States require that the United States government personnel use armed escorts and armored vehicles when traveling in certain parts of the country, both for official and personal trips,” he said, and added that the restrictions on movements could occur, depending on local circumstances and security conditions.
“The United States government staff in the allocation in Pakistan is prohibited from attending most of the great meetings,” he said.
The review also said that the embassy and consulates of the United States had “limited capacity to provide consular services to dual citizens of the United States-Pakistani who have been arrested or detained.”
“The Pakistani law considers such individuals to be exclusively citizens of Pakistan,” he said.
