×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Sushma gifts medical visas to ill Pakistanis for Diwali

Last Updated 19 October 2017, 15:17 IST
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday offered a Diwali gift of medical visas to ailing Pakistanis seeking treatment in hospitals in India.

She announced on Twitter that New Delhi would grant visas to all eligible Pakistanis, who had applied for the travel document to come to India for medical treatment but were yet to receive it.

“On the auspicious occasion of Deepavali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today,” Swaraj tweeted.

The External Affairs Minister had made a similar goodwill gesture to Pakistanis on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15.

New Delhi of late has taken a more liberal approach in issuing visas to Pakistani patients seeking to undergo treatment in India, particularly after M Nawaz Sharif resigned as Prime Minister of the neighbouring country in July this year. After being approached on Twitter by the near and dear of critically-ill patients in Pakistan, Swaraj asked the High Commission of India in Islamabad to issue visas to them.

Accolades
Her prompt interventions earned accolades not only from critically-ill patients and their families in Pakistan, but also from the Twitterati in the neighbouring country.

New Delhi earlier this year restricted grant of visas to Pakistanis wanting to undergo medical treatment in India, particularly after a military court in the neighbouring country sentenced to death Kulbhushan Jadhav, former Indian Navy officer.
ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 19 October 2017, 05:52 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT