New Delhi
20 February 2006
After humiliating two top Indian scientists by not granting them
visas, the United States has meted out similar treatment to an official of the Union
Ministry of Commerce.
The US Embassy in New Delhi has not issued travel documents to Mr Ali Ahmed Khan,
regional director of Council for Leather Exports, ostensibly because his name bore a
resemblance to the names of certain persons listed on Washington's purported alert list.
That's not all. The officials of two Indian companies who were to accompany Mr Khan as
part of a 25-member delegation representing India at an international leather fair in the
US were denied visas too.
"We were forced to call off our plans at the eleventh hour," Mr Khan told this newspaper.
Consequently, only about 21 members were headed for the US to participate in the fair to
be held in Las Vegas from February 21 to 24.
"I was told they had a problem with my name [because] my name reflected in [their] alert
system. [They denied me a visa] without going through my support documents issued by
the ministries of External Affairs and Commerce," he narrated.
Mr Khan applied for a visa on January 9. He was called for interview on February 13.
"The official refused ... this despite I being a deemed government servant with
substantial [government] support," Mr Khan added.
When contacted, the US Embassy did not deny that a visa was not issued to Mr Khan. "It
is US policy not to comment on individual visa cases," US Embassy Spokesman David
Kennedy told this newspaper.
He aded, "The United States, like virtually every other nation on earth, including India,
has certain categories of visas that must be referred to the nation's capital before final
action can be taken."
Mr Khan joined the Council for Leather Exports in July 2005. Prior to that, he was
regional director of export promotion council in the Ministry of Textiles. Mr Khan has
served in an official capacity for 12 years.
He visited Germany in September last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment