Pakistan-born South African spinner Imran Tahir has alleged that he was mistreated by the Pakistani consulate staff in Birmingham.
Tahir had gone to the consulate to secure Pakistani visas for his family members. The spinner has been included in the World XI squad for the three-T20 match Independence Cup against Pakistan.
In a Twitter statement, Tahir said that he had to wait for five long hours, which he termed as a ‘painful trauma’, and added that he was expelled after that by the staff, as the office hours were over.
“I had to undergo a very unfortunate situation in the Pakistani consulate, Birmingham. I had visited the consulate to secure visas with my family members. But I had to wait for five long hours and then was expelled as the office hours were over,” he said.
Tahir was, however, rescued by High Commissioner lbn e Abbas. “It was only after High Commissioner lbn e Abbas instructed the staff about helping us when we were issued visas. It’s sad that this happened to a guy, who was originally from Pakistan and is a South African cricketer taking part in the World XI series,” he added.
South African Faf du Plessis will lead the World XI side. Both of them will be joined by Proteas batsman Hashim Amla, pacer Morne Morkel and David Miller. England’s ICC World Twenty20 2010 winning captain Paul Collingwood, West Indies’ Darren Sammy, Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal and Australia’s George Bailey will also be part of the World XI. All the three games will be played in Lahore. The matches will be played at Qaddafi Stadium from Sept 12 to 15.
