FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2003 file photo, Pakistan's Islamic cleric Ghafoor Haideri, addresses a news conference in Quetta, Pakistan. The chairman of Pakistan's senate says the body will not welcome any U.S. delegation, member of Congress or dignitary in Islamabad. The move comes after the U.S. failed to issue a visa to Ghafoor Haideri, the senate's deputy chairman, a member of the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash, FILE) (The Associated Press)
ISLAMABAD – The chairman of Pakistan's senate says the body will not welcome any U.S. delegation, member of Congress or dignitary in Islamabad.
The move comes after the U.S. failed to issue a visa to the senate's deputy chairman, a member of the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party.
Chairman Raza Rabbani says in a statement that no Pakistani senate delegation will visit the U.S. until an explanation for the delay in issuing a visa to Maulana Ghafoor Haideri is given by U.S. authorities.
A U.S. embassy spokesman in Islamabad said Sunday they could not comment on visa cases due to privacy laws.
Haideri was to travel Sunday to New York to attend a meeting at the United Nations.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is known for pro-Taliban and anti-U.S. stances.
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