Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban' fallout? Kashmiri athlete Tanveer Hussain denied US visa

The 24-year-old Tanveer was supposed to travel to US for a sports event.

New Delhi: In a possible fallout with Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban' policy, Kashmir-based snowshoe athlete Tanveer Hussain has been denied US visa.

The 24-year-old Tanveer was supposed to travel to the United States to participate in World Snowshoe Federation (WSSF) World Championship on February 25 in Saranac Lake, New York but he was in for a shocker as the US embassy in New Delhi denied him the visa following Trump's new policy.

Tanveer was quoted saying by Firstpost, "The visa officer took my interview for five minutes and inquired about the sport. After the interview she went inside, spoke to someone and then said that I can't be granted visa because of the current policy of the United States."

"This is the first time any country has refused visa to me. It is such a disappointing feeling that I don’t have a word to express it. I was going to represent India in the United States. It seems the visa ban is not for the seven countries of the Muslim majority countries, but on the Muslims throughout the world," Hussain further added.

The US embassy had told IANS that Indian citizens are "not affected" by the Trump administration order.

"For privacy reasons we cannot discuss specific visa cases. However, we note that Indian citizens are not affected by the recent executive order," a US Embassy spokesperson said, declining to be named.

It was also clarified later that not just Tanveer, another athelete by the name of Abid Khan from the same sport was denied visa. Clyde Rabideau, Mayor of the Village of Saranac Lake in New York, revealed about it on his Facebook page.“Indian Snowshoers Denied Visas, due to ‘current (US) policy’. This from our good friend Abid Khan, from Kashmir, minutes ago in our Facebook Messaging.”  

Here's the full conversation:-

The six nations included in the President Trump's controversial executive order includes Syria, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.

(With IANS inputs)