Pakistan today decided to tighten its visa policy and increase the security of foreigners after two Chinese nationals were abducted last month and reportedly killed by Islamic State militants, the Interior Ministry said.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan asked officials to "review" the process of visa issuance to Chinese nationals visiting Pakistan for various projects and maintain a databank of their presence in the country, an official statement said.
Several Chinese nationals have been visiting Pakistan, mainly as workers to participate in massive infrastructure projects connected to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - being built by Chinese firms and Chinese assistance.
But it has now emerged that the two Chinese nationals - Lee Zing Yang, 24 and Meng Li Si, 26 - abducted from Quetta last month at gun point and killed by Islamic State militants were involved in "preaching" instead of business activities, for which they were issued visas.
It was not clear what sort of "preaching" they were involved in.
Minister Khan said it was unfortunate that a "misuse of the terms of business visa" led to their death. He ordered the secretary, interior ministry, to investigate the matter.
The minister said ensuring security of foreign nationals in Pakistan was a "shared responsibility".
"Where the government made every effort to provide security to foreigners, the visiting foreign nationals were equally bound to abide by the terms and conditions of their visas and inform local authorities about their movements and activities keeping in view the security requirements, if any."
Taking note of laxity often shown by Pakistani missions abroad, he said the officials posted there should scrutinise visa applications properly and get necessary details before issuing visas to foreign nationals.
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