Sushma Swaraj granted medical visa to 7-year-old Maha Shoaib from Pakistan's Karachi.
In yet another instance of Twitter diplomacy, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj promised help to the mother of an ailing seven-year-old girl in Pakistan, saying her child would be granted a medical visa for a heart surgery.
"Yes, we are allowing Visa for your 7 years old daughter's open heart surgery in India. We also pray for her early recovery," Ms Swaraj tweeted today.
She was responding to Nida Shoaib, who has been tweeting the minister and the Indian High Commission in Islamabad since September 19, seeking medical visa for her daughter, Maha Shoaib. In a series of tweets last week, she had urged the minister to issue the visa on the 'auspicious day' of 'Durga Puja'.
Nida Shoaib, who joined the micro-blogging site in August and has only tweeted about her daughter's medical condition so far, had earlier shared a photo of her child and a letter from an Indian doctor requesting a visa on her behalf.
On August 15, Ms Swaraj had said India would grant medical visa to Pakistani nationals in genuine cases. "On the auspicious occasion of India's Independence day, we will grant medical visa in all bonafide cases pending with us. @IndiainPakistan," she had tweeted.
Sushma Swaraj is among the government's most responsive ministers on Twitter and is known to reply directly to tweets by those who are either in trouble - or even those who are prone to using their social media posts to draw the minister's attention.
The minister has over eight million followers on Twitter and is widely appreciated for her personal engagement with those who ask for her assistance, be it for passports or visas or to return home from conflict zones.