Washington, August 13(ANI): The United States has denied media reports that four American diplomats in Pakistan were stopped from entering Peshawar earlier this week because they lacked proper travel documentation.
"Media reports about U.S. diplomats being stopped on their way into Peshawar this week are untrue," the US State Department said.
"The source of these inaccurate reports appears to be the reprint of a story that ran on July 18. No such incidents have occurred this week. We are working with the Government of Pakistan to ensure U.S. diplomats continue to be free to travel," it added.
Last month, six US diplomats were barred from entering Peshawar on the grounds that they did not have No-Objection Certificates (NOCs), a day after four US nationals were stopped from entering the provincial capital and sent back to Islamabad.
The US nationals were stopped at the Peshawar Motorway Interchange and were asked to return to Islamabad even after they showed US diplomatic passports to the security officials, The Express Tribune reported.
The diplomats told the officials that they had been told by the US embassy that an NOC was not required for entry into Peshawar. Pakistani officials, however, informed them that possession of diplomatic passports was not enough.
"No foreigner is allowed to enter Peshawar without prior permission from the authorities concerned and we have informed the US citizens to carry no-objection certificates (NOCs) while coming to Peshawar or else they won't be allowed entry... Pakistan is a sovereign country and no foreigner is above the law," Khyber-Pakthukhwa's Senior Minister Bashir Bilour told the media at Peshawar Press Club. (ANI)
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