Security concerns: UAE officials detained over Balochistan trip

QUETTA: Five representatives of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) mission in Pakistan were detained in Kalat and handed over to the authorities for making a trip to Quetta from Karachi without the interior ministry’s clearance. They were released after being held overnight. “The Arabs were travelling with two Pakistani nationals — a driver and a cook — when the Levies personnel intercepted them on the RCD Highway near the Mangochar area in Kalat,” Kalat Deputy Commissioner Salahuddin Norzai told The Express Tribune. Norzai said that the UAE mission representatives had violated the law by not obtaining prior permission for travel in the province from the interior ministry. The UAE nationals, identified as Ibrahim, Abdullah, Rashid, Abdullah and Saeed, lied to the investigators telling them they were in Balochistan for an important meeting. But they had travelled there only for the sake of adventure. Since they were “foreign dignitaries” no case was registered against them under the Foreigners Act even though they had flouted the law. Foreigners are not allowed to travel in Balochistan without a no objection certificate (NOC) owing to security concerns. The province faces multiple crises ranging from Baloch insurgency, sectarian violence and Taliban attacks. “It is a sensitive area and too dangerous for foreigners to travel without security. The foreigners did not realise that it could have cost them their lives,” Salahuddin added. Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2014.