ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has restricted the movement of United States diplomats stationed in the country.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office, in its letter to the United States embassy, stated that envoys will be allowed only limited movement in the country. They will have to seek permission from the relevant authorities before traveling.
American officials will not be allowed to use rented vehicles or cars with tinted windows.
The Foreign Office said that the cars being used by the envoys should carry the original number plate. The use of non-diplomatic number plates on official US Embassy vehicles is also prohibited.
The diplomats will not be allowed to purchase or rent property without a no-objection certificate. The cargo brought into the country by US diplomats will be dealt according to the Vienna Convention. Furthermore, mobile phone SIMs will not be sold to the American diplomats without biometric verification.
The Foreign Office’s measures come after the Trump administration announced late April that Pakistani diplomats will have to get permission five days in advance to travel more than 25 miles from their embassy.
A few weeks ago, Pakistan also barred a US diplomat from leaving the country after a traffic accident is Islamabad. US military attaché Col Joseph Emanuel Hall enjoyed diplomatic immunity and was not arrested. He is accused of violating a traffic signal and killing Ateeq Baig on April 7. APP