WASHINGTON – The United States unveiled a travel advisory on Wednesdayurging its citizens to reconsider their plans provided they werevisiting Pakistan, citing multiple security-related issues.
The advisory issued by the State Department categorised over dozencountries in terms of threat level with Pakistan occupying Level 3, thesecond last level in terms of danger.
“Reconsider travel to Pakistan due to terrorism. Some areas have increasedrisk. Do not travel to Balochistan province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, (FATA) and the AzadKashmir area due to terrorism and armed conflict,” the StateDepartment said.
In its detailed statement, the department also cited reasons and presentedstatistics as to why the Americans should reconsider their Pakistan tour.
“Over the past six months, there have been at least 40 significantterrorist attacks across Pakistan, resulting in over 225 deaths and 475wounded, most of which occurred in Balochistan, KPK, and the FATA. In thepast, there have been large-scale terrorist attacks resulting in hundredsof casualties,” highlighted the federal executive department.
The office also mentioned that the U.S. government was unable to provideany consular services to U.S. citizens from the Consulate General inPeshawar.
It continued that the Americans should also avoid travelling to the AzadKashmir area as “Indian and Pakistani military forces periodically exchangegun and artillery fire across the LoC.”