Sushma Swaraj asks Indian mission to grant medical visa to Pakistani girl

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to grant medical visa immediately to a five-year-old Pakistani girl, suffering from eye cancer, for treatment in India.

The child's parents had sought Swaraj's help.

"There is a request for medical visa for 5 year old child Anamta Farrukh who is suffering from eye cancer for her treatment in India. I have asked @IndiainPakistan to issue medical visa for treatment of the child in India immediately," she said on Twitter yesterday.


She also said another Pakistani child requiring bone marrow transplant was being given visa for treatment in India.

"We are giving medical visa for the bone marrow transplant surgery of your son in India. I pray for his early recovery here," Swaraj said to the father of the boy, identified as Shehriyar.

Swaraj announced that two Pakistani men were also being medical visas for liver transplant.

"We have approved medical visa for the liver transplant of your father Syed Baseer Imam Zaidi and pray for his long life," she said.

Zaidi's son Syed Adnan requested her to facilitate visa approval to his father.

"I have asked Indian High Commission in Pakistan to issue visa for the liver transplant surgery of your father in India," she responded to the plea of another Twitter user.

Swaraj has been taking a sympathetic approach in granting medical visas to Pakistani nationals, notwithstanding strain in ties between India and Pakistan over a host of issues, including cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.