No India visit without NOC: Pak to singers

Islamabad, Feb 24: After well known singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's detention in India, Pakistan has restored immigration measures to prevent such embarrassment, henceforth.

The Pakistan government on Friday, Feb 25 declared that actor and artists must have to obtain No-Objection Certificate (NOC) before they departure to India

The Culture Ministry will certify Pakistani actors and artistes before the NOCs are issued to them by the Interior Ministry for travelling to India, an official statement said.

A decision to this effect was made at a high-level meeting chaired today by Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

The meeting, which was attended by representatives of all ministries, decided that no artiste or actor will be allowed to travel to India without an NOC after Mar 15.

Malik had announced in parliament that artists will have to obtain NOCs to travel to India in the wake of Khan's detention last week.

Khan was detained after he and members of his troupe were found to be carrying undeclared foreign currency worth USD 124,000. He was let off after he paid a fine of Rs 15 lakh.

The singer blamed the incident on his lack of knowledge of Indian custom laws.

PTI