PESHAWAR: A local court has ordered the publication of an advertisement for the appearance of the US Embassy’s staff members in a damages suit filed by a senior journalist over the revocation of his visa without information.

Additional district and sessions judge Nasrullah Khan warned the respondents, including the US Embassy’s consular section, that ex parte proceedings would be started against them if they failed to attend the next hearing on Feb 28.

The court was hearing the suit filed by Peshawar-based Mehmood Jan Babar, who asking for $20 million damages for ‘subjecting him to humiliation, physical and mental torture and financial loss’.

During a previous hearing in the case, the US Embassy, through Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed diplomatic immunity in the damages suit and said that the proper notice of the proceedings was not provided through diplomatic channel.

Orders publication of advertisement for their appearance in court on 28th

“The Ministry of foreign affairs requests the Judicial Complex Peshawar to take note of the defective servicing of the legal notice and withdraw it at the earliest,” said a letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on May 18, 2021.

The plaintiff later sent legal notice to the US Embassy afresh through Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The notice was responded through the same ministry, stating that “it [the US Embassy] regrets the inconvenience caused to Mr Jan and has informed that it is not the US Consulate but the US Department of State that declared Mr. Jan ineligible for US visa... The delay in notification of revocation was, however, caused by the reduced staff due to Covid-19.”

But, this time too, the relevant staff members of the US Embassy did not turn up before the court, which led to the issuance of the order of publication of an advertisement for the appearance of the US Embassy’s employees.

The plaintiff’s counsel said that the US Embassy issued in August 2016 a five-year valid professional Visa ‘I’ Type to his client, a senior journalist with 25-year experience in print and electronic media.

He said his client planned to visit the US to provide his readers and viewers with the first-hand information on US elections set for Nov 3, 2020.

The lawyer said the plaintiff had boarded a connected flight of the Turkish Airlines on Oct 25, 2020, for the US from Islamabad, but the airline and Turkish immigration officials stopped him in Istanbul from boarding the flight for New York.

He added that the plaintiff was forced to return to Islamabad in an ‘undignified and insulting manner’ and on homecoming, he was informed in a reply to his email that the US Embassy had revoked his visa.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2022