Pakistani actress Meera has made an urgent appeal to British and Pakistani officials to help secure a UK visa so she can travel to London to visit her critically ill sister, Shaista Abbas, who is suffering from advanced-stage cancer.
Meera is currently in New York, while her sister, mother and younger brother are in London.
The actress has faced longstanding difficulties obtaining permission to enter the UK. Several members of her family are British nationals, but Meera’s immigration history includes previous visa refusals and a lengthy ban on entering the country.
However, she has now appealed for a visa on humanitarian grounds, saying she wants to be with her sister during what she described as a critical stage of her illness.
Earlier, in a casual conversation, Shaista Abbas revealed that Meera had taken care of her and her brother when they were young. She said she supported them financially, sent them to the UK for their studies, and even bought a home for them.
She recalled that their father died when she was just six years old, after which the actress took responsibility for looking after them and supporting their mother in every possible way.
Recalling the ban that prevented Meera from travelling to the UK, her sister said, “She made a spelling mistake in an application. It was a very minor error, but the UK government took it very seriously, which eventually led to her being banned.”