Reportedly, the father of Murad Saeed, the Federal Communication Minister was arrested in Melbourne, Australia on spurious travel documents. Last night the reports hit Pakistan’s media claiming that a man named Saeedullah traveled to Australia on a student visa.
He was taken into custody after he failed to satisfy immigration officials. The reports further claimed that Murad’s father was shifted to an immigration detention center after taken into custody. Neither Pakistani authorities nor Murad Saeed has explained the news.
جن کے اپنے ایرپورٹوں پر کپڑ ے اترتے ہیں وہ دوسروں کی عزتیں اچھال کے اپنی تشفی کا سامان کرنے سے باز آئیں تو بہتر ہوگا۔
نہ تو میرے والد صاحب اسٹوڈنٹ ویزہ پر گئے نہ ہی گرفتار ہوئے۔— Murad Saeed (@MuradSaeedPTI) December 17, 2019
Meanwhile, Murad Saeed and father Saeedullah were mocked on social media soon after the incident was reported, social media users questioned the need for Murad Saeed’s father to travel to Australia on a student visa in the first place.
Read more: PTI not linked with London protests: Murad Saeed Explains!
The Twitter users discussed how was he was granted the student visa when he has passed the age of academic studies. A few rumor mongers on Twitter asserted that Murad Saeed’s father was traveling for graduate studies to Australia and others added that he was carrying forged university degree and travel documents. Some even went on to allege that his father was carrying 2000 Australian dollars and that’s why he was taken into custody over suspicion.
Murad Saeed's father may have taken a student visa post-doctorate. pic.twitter.com/lcQNnc3rEc
— ابرار🦅 (@Khan__003) December 17, 2019
Why in the world was Murad Saeed’s father travelling to Australia on a student visa? pic.twitter.com/IwUHtlH5HH
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) December 16, 2019
Unconfirmed reports say Murad Saeed father has been detained at Melbourne Airport. He reached Australia on student’s visa. Saeed ul Ullah has been kept in detention center. #MuradSaeedFatherDetained
— Nafees Naeem (@sarimnafees1) December 16, 2019
However, senior journalist and analyst, Rauf Klasra busted the rumors against federal minister Murad Saeed and his father. He declined the media reports that Saeed’s father was arrested for traveling on a student visa. Adding that he traveled to Australia on tourism visa purportedly but a dispute happened after miscommunication due to language barrier and faulty procedure in the visa process.
Klasra, asked people to show restraint until Murad Saeed clarifies the incident. He commented that it is essential for the public office holders to provide accurate information regarding himself and his family to people to avoid controversies.
مراد سعید کے موقف کا انتظار کرنا چائیے۔کسی وزیر کے لیے خاندان کے لوگوں کے لیے ٹورازم ویزہ لگوانا مشکل کام نہیں ہوتا۔ویسے یہ اسٹوڈنٹ ویزہ نہیں تھا۔کچھ لینگویج بیریر اور پروسیجر میں مسلہ ہوا ہے۔مراد کو وضاحت کرنی چائیے۔پبلک افس ہولڈرز کو خاندان&رشتہ داروں کا جواب بھی دینا پڑتا ہے. https://t.co/sCvTTTisXD
— Rauf Klasra (@KlasraRauf) December 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/SidrahMemon1/status/1206655685469057024
Furious Federal Minister, Murad Saeed, apparently irked with the libelous comments on social media, dissed his critics in a twitter post. He schooled his detractors that they don’t have the right to slander his family since once they were also forced to undergo an embarrassing security check at an international airport.
Read more: NHA achieves 100-day targets: Murad Saeed
Murad Saeed referred to the incident of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi; video of Abbasi once circulated on social media in which he was seen taking off his coat, belt and shoes to undergo a security check at one of the airports in the US. The incident happened when Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had replaced Nawaz Sharif as the premier of Pakistan.
Like father like son. #MuradSaeed pic.twitter.com/jJWBXJPaiA
— Tariq Mir (@TSM_Humanist) December 17, 2019
#MuradSaeed’s father arrested at Melbourne Airport for faulty immigration documents.
Saeed Ullah had arrived in Melbourne #Australia from Pakistan today. Upon questioning by authorities, he was found to have incomplete documents. The minister’s father was hence taken into custody pic.twitter.com/fW8xdR8k9k— PashtoScoop (@pashtoscoop) December 17, 2019
An unnamed source from a student immigration consultancy revealed that the Australian government has placed a ban on the students of KPK and Balochistan applying for a study abroad program in Australian academic institutions.
Read more: Murad Saeed blames Mohsin Dawar for fueling attack on army check post
The ban is strictly followed for the student applying for undergraduate programs from these two provinces, however, universities may relax the restriction, rarely, for students applying for the graduate program on the condition that they have acquired their undergraduate degree from educational institutes in the other two provinces.
When asked about the ban on the students from KPK and Balochistan, it was revealed the ban had been in place for a long time now and was imposed on political reasons when the majority of students from KPK and Balochistan applied for the political asylum, after traveling to Australia on a student visa.