Pak singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan deported from Hyderabad airport
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New Delhi: Renowned Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was refused entry by immigration officials at Hyderabad international airport as he flew in directly from Abu Dhabi, reports have said.
The singer who arrived by an Etihad flight to Hyderabad to take part in a Sufi music event on Thursday night was sent back by immigration officials upon his arrival, the Deccan Chronicle reported.
The report quoted an immigration official as saying it was over a “technical flaw” as Pakistani nationals are allowed entry into India only through airports at the four metros -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
Other reports quoted unnamed officials as saying the deportation was over a “technical issue with documentation” and that the singer was allowed to return to the country after his organisers sorted it out.
Khan took a flight to Delhi from Abu Dhabi later in the evening and then boarded a chartered flight to Hyderabad from the national capital, the Times of India reported.
It was not confirmed whether he could make it later in the evening to the event ‘Raahtein a ‘Sufi’sticated New Year’s Eve’ that was organised at the Taj Falaknuma Palace.
The qawwali maestro had faced trouble with Indian authorities in 2011 as well, when he and his troupe were detained at the Delhi international airport for alleged foreign exchange violations.
