Bangladeshi Citizens
Earlier this month, a wave of social media posts emerged in Pakistan, suggesting that the Pakistani government had granted visa-free entry to Bangladeshi citizens.
These claims gained traction following a recent change in the Bangladeshi government and quickly spread across platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), where a post about the visa-free policy accumulated over 141,000 views, more than 6,700 likes, and over 720 shares.
However, these claims are inaccurate.
Officials from Pakistan’s interior ministry and the ministry of information and broadcasting have confirmed that Bangladeshis will not enjoy visa-free access to Pakistan.
According to Qadir Yar Tiwana, Director General of Media at the interior ministry, there has been no such policy change.
On August 13, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar announced a revised visa policy that affects several countries.
This update specifies that citizens from Gulf countries—namely, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait—will be allowed entry into Pakistan with just their passports, without needing a visa.
For Bangladeshi citizens, the situation remains unchanged. They will still need to apply for a visa upon arrival in Pakistan, though this process has been streamlined.
According to the new policy, Bangladeshi nationals will receive an electronic visa within 24 hours of application.
This is in line with the information listed on the interior ministry’s official website, which details the visa requirements for various countries.
Further confirmation came from Ambreen Jan, Federal Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who reiterated that there has been no alteration in the visa policy for Bangladeshi citizens.
Thus, the claims circulating about visa-free access are false and unsubstantiated.
