Saif-ur-Rehman, 28, was detained by Chilean police on Monday on a charge of entering the US embassy with traces of explosives.

Rehman, who has done his ‘A’ levels from an Islamabad college and graduated from the Punjab University, was doing his internship at a hotel in Chile, where he is pursuing a course in the hospitality industry since January.

Although reports from Chile suggested that Rehman went to the US embassy for visa processing, his father Mehmood Ahmad Rehman Khan claimed he already had a five-year valid visa for the US, adding that his son had been called to the US embassy for some questioning.

“Saif, while chatting on the Skype with his family on May 7 (Friday), told me that a person named Bill had called him from the US embassy in Santiago and asked him to come to the US embassy for some identification check-up,” the father said.Since it was strange for a person to be approached by the US embassy in this way, Mr Khan said his son had informed the Pakistani mission in Chile and the head of his institute about the call.

“My son became a victim of racial profiling and has been detained without a valid reason or evidence. His arrest was clearly a setup,” the distraught father said.

Mr Khan said his son held an exemplary academic record.