ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan embassy in Kabul is set to restore its full consular services on Sunday (today) after a gap of nearly two months.

The embassy made this announcement over Twitter saying: “@PakEmbKabul is happy to announce that it would be resuming its full consular services with effect from Sunday, 29 December, 2019”.

The embassy had suspended the services on Nov 4, citing concerns about safety and security of its staff. The decision was taken after harassment of some Pakistani diplomats in the Afghan capital where embassy vehicles were hit by motorcycles.

However, a few days after suspending the consular operations, the embassy started issuing health visas as the closure had hit Afghans intending to visit Pakistan hard. A large number of Afghans visit Pakistan for medical treatment, connecting with family members living here, education and business. The consular section on an average receives about 2,000 applications and issues up to 1,500 visas on a daily basis.

Earlier, the Afghan authorities announced reopening of their Peshawar consulate that also remained closed for nearly three months.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019