US Blogger Cynthia D Ritchie has submitted a petition within the Islamabad supreme court (IHC) on Saturday, challenging the inside ministry’s decision to deny her a visa extension.
In the petition, Ritchie made the inside secretary, deputy secretary, and director-general Federal Investigation Agency parties to the case, stating that she had fulfilled all the legal obligations required of her — in her visa application — to make sure her continued stay in Pakistan.
Ritchie accused the inside ministry of denying her visa with none solid reason, her petition mentioning that rejecting her visa extension was a violation of the overall Clauses Act and therefore the country's visa policy.
Interior ministry asks Cynthia Ritchie to go away Pakistan within 15 days
Earlier in the week , the ministry had rejected Ritchie's visa extension application and asked her to exit the country within 15 days.
In its response to the IHC each day ago, the ministry stated that the American citizen's visa had been extended twice during 2018-19 which was against the law.
It mentioned that the blogger had applied for her work visa extension twice , but she was given a business visa by the authority against the visa policy, adding that her company wasn't registered in Pakistan either.
The interior ministry on Friday had also submitted its comments to the supreme court in Cynthia D Ritchie's case, stating that the American blogger should be stopped from making controversial statements that go against the essential rights of citizens.
The response came after the IHC expressed displeasure over the ministry's comments at the previous hearing, instructing it to supply relevant records of its business visa policy.
Ritchie accuses PPP leadership of 'harassment' and 'manhandling'
In a video broadcast survive Facebook in May, Ritchie had alleged that a senior PPP leader had raped her while two others had 'manhandled' her at a separate occasion.
She had stated that the incidents occurred in 2011 during the PPP tenure, when the individual she accused of rape had been a senior minister.
Ritchie had further alleged that two other senior party leaders — a federal minister and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani (who publicly skilled the allegation) — had "physically manhandled" her when the latter "was staying the President House".
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