ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates has not banned or blacklisted the issuance of visas to Pakistanis belonging to specific cities, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

“We have seen the reports. We can confirm that no such ban is in place by UAE for issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in response to queries by journalists on reports of apparent blacklisting or ban by the Emirates on the issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens belonging to specific cities.

The UAE also strongly denied reports of not providing visas to Pakistani citizens belonging to certain cities, terming it as “fake news”. Consulate General of the UAE Karachi Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi said that no such ban had been imposed by the UAE government.

Earlier, it was reported that the UAE government has imposed a visit visa ban on a total of 24 cities in Pakistan. Following is the list of cities:

• Abbottabad
• Deri Ghazi Khan
• Quetta
• Khushab
• Muzaffarabad
• Sargodha
• Attock
• Kasur
• Kurram Agency
• Nawabshah
• Sheikhupura
• Bajaur
• Hangu
• Kohat
• Dera Ismail Khan
• Larkana
• Sahiwal
• Sukkur
• Parachinar
• Skardu
• Chakwal
• Hunza
• Kotli
• Mohmand

Agent mafia sent Pakistani citizens to the UAE on a visit visa by misrepresentation and in job scams, Adnan Pracha, an expert of the Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters, was quoted as saying in such reports. “But people after not getting jobs were caught begging and involved in other works. All this became the reason for the ban,” he said, adding that the country has also deported such people.

“Many of them took one-way tickets and did not even have money for the return ticket.”