The New York Times (NYT) on Friday strongly protested the expulsion of their Pakistan bureau chief Declan Walsh, a report on their website read.
“The Times has strongly protested the move and is seeking his reinstatement.”
The paper’s executive editor Jill Abramson in a letter to the caretaker Interior Minister Malik Habib Khan protested the move and asked him to reinstate Walsh’s visa.
Walsh has been covering Pakistan and Afghanistan for close to a decade first for the Guardian and, since 2012, for the NYT.
Early on Thursday morning, Walsh was served a notice from the government that his visa had been cancelled and that he had 72 hours to leave the country.
According to the NYT, the notice cited Walsh’s “undesireable activities” as the reason for his visa being cancelled. No specific reason was reportedly offered.