T20 World Cup Teams Seek ICC Help Over Visa Issues for Pakistan-Origin Players

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Canada, Italy, the USA, and the Netherlands have picked players with Pakistani passports for the T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, fearing delays in these players getting visas. England have Rehan Ahmed in their side, while Nepal also have a player of Pakistani-origin in their squad. Thus, the UAE, which has multiple players of Pakistani origin who will face trouble in getting an Indian visa, has taken the lead and written to the ICC to help them in the matter, Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net) reported, quoting sources.

"The UAE, Oman, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States have players who were born in Pakistan, and despite having the nationality of the country, they are facing problems in acquiring an Indian visa," sources told the website.

As per Indian External Ministry rules, despite having another country's nationality, if someone is born in Pakistan or their parents or grandparents were born in Pakistan, they have to apply for a visa on a Pakistani passport.

"The UAE and Oman players have applied for visas, but there are fears that they will not be issued the permission to play in India until and unless the ICC intervenes," www.telecomasia.net quoted the sources as saying.

The UAE has Mohammad Waseem, Jawad Ullah, Mohammad Rohid, Khuzaima Tanveer, Haider Ali, Asif Khan, and Junaid Siddiqui, who were all born in Pakistan and will face visa issues as they are not UAE passport holders. The UAE does not give nationality to foreigners.

Oman also has several Pakistan-born or Pakistan-origin players with the likes of Fayyaz Butt, Hammad Mirza, Shah Faisal, Mohammad Nadeem, and Sufyan Mahmood, to name a few.

There is a history of players of Pakistani origin facing delays or rejection in getting an Indian visa. In 2024, England off-spinner Shoaib Basheer, born and brought up in the UK, got his visa delayed due to his father being born and brought up in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). The same happened to another spinner, Rehan Ahmed, last year.

The report also claimed that Australia's Pakistan-born cricketer Usman Khawaja's visa was also delayed when he was part of the team on the Test tour to India in 2023.

The Netherlands' brothers, Sikander and Saqib Zulfiqar, had to tour India as part of the Dutch team in 2019. However, they were not issued visas on time, while their teammates received approval within the stipulated time.

The duo was born in the Netherlands; they don't have dual nationality. Their father, Asad Zulfiqar, has been living in the country for more than three decades; however, the Pakistani heritage of the cricketers delayed their visa processing, making it impossible for them to visit India.

Only a dozen Pakistani fans were issued Indian visas for the 2023 ODI World Cup held there.

The already strained relations between Pakistan and India came to a flash point in May last year after a brief military conflict following a terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir, with India destroying terror infrastructure across the border during the Operation Sindoor airstrikes.

India refused to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy and, under an agreement, played all its matches in the UAE (neutral venue). Since the agreement, Pakistan has not sent its women's team to India for the 50-over World Cup matches, while the Asia Cup was relocated from India to the UAE over Pakistan's refusal to tour India.

In the upcoming T20 World Cup, Pakistan will play its matches in Colombo, and the Sri Lankan capital has been picked as a standby venue for a semifinal and final in case the Pakistan team makes it to that stage.

- IANS