Pakistani artists and students would now need to have a no-objection certificate from the interior ministry, a decision that was "supposedly taken after the embarrassing episode in which singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained by Indian authorities," said a leading Pakistani daily.

Calling it an 'ominous development', the editorial in the Dawn on Friday said Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the National Assembly that students wanting to go abroad on scholarships - as well as artistes - would have to obtain an NOC from his ministry before they can leave the country.