Scores of visa seekers from various areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday staged a protest demonstration on main Sher Shah Suri Road near the local press club against officials of the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar for lengthy delays in issuance of visas.
The protesters, led by Aurangzeb Khan, were holding placards and banners inscribed slogans in favour of their demands. Aurangzeb told reporters that people from all over the country, especially Mardan, Swat, Abbottabad, had been visiting the consulate for the past six months without getting visas. Accusing the security staff at the consulate of demanding huge bribes from visa seekers, he said that those who bribed, got visas easily, but poor people were deprived.
Demonstrators said that the Afghan consulate accepted documents for visa after a lengthy procedure. They urged senior officials of the Afghan consulate to take notice of the security staff's maltreatment and make the process of visa issuance easier and simpler for ordinary visitors. The protesters also demanded of the government and Afghan authorities to take notice of the situation.