Sick Pak baby gets medical visa after Sushma intervenes

Islamabad: India has issued a medical visa to a fourmonth-old baby, Rohaan, with heart disease from Pakistan after his father sought the intervention of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. “The child will not suffer. Please contact Indian high commission in Pakistan. We will give the medical visa,” Ms Swaraj replied to the child’s father’s plea on Twitter. The family had been trying to get a visa for three months.

India on Friday granted medical a visa to Pakistan-based fourmonth-old Rohaan, who is suffering from a heart ailment.

The Indian government had not issued medical visas to Pakistani residents since three months. The plea of the ailing child gained strength on social media and finally caught the attention of Indian external affairs minister Sashimi Sara.

Upon the request of Roan’s father, the Indian High Commission issued the four-month-old a medical visa. The father, Knawel Sadie, had initially applied for a visa in Uttar Pradesh, though it was not accepted.

Mr Sadie’s friends advised him to use social media to contact Indian officials, following which he sent tweets to Ms Swaraj, who promptly replied to his plea on Twitter, after which the family was granted the visas. However, they are still awaiting passports. Rohaan will undergo a heart surgery in Uttar Radish’s JP Hospital.

For the past three months, Pakistanis are facing hurdles in receiving medical visas from India. The Pakistani Foreign Office had raised the matter with the Indian HC earlier as well.

Meanwhile, two men assaulted an Iranian photojournalist, working at the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), on Friday in Islamabad. Zee Shan Ali was taking photographs, depicting the observance of Ramadan in Pakistan, in Islamabad’s G-8 Sector when armed men assaulted him and stole his equipment at gunpoint.