He has asked the Home Office if anything can be done to rescue the planned visit by the group.
Mr Murphy told a radio phone-in: “I have contacted the Home Office to say, what more can be done to get these folk in to Scotland in time to be able to perform as a pipe band, and as a business delegation.”
Around 65 Pakistanis, including a trade delegation and members of a pipe band, have been banned from travelling to Scotland.
Business talks in Glasgow had to be abandoned after the visitors from the district government in Lahore, which is twinned with the city, had their visa applications rejected.
A pipe band due to perform at the World Pipe Band Championships on Saturday was also refused entry.
Glasgow councillor Hanzala Malik said around 65 people in total had their applications refused, which he said was a “ludicrous” situation as many had visited Glasgow before.
He added: “We’ve advised the authorities of their names, their passport numbers and done everything we could, so for them still to be refused - I am pulling my hair out.”
The UK Border Agency said: “The onus is on visa applicants to supply the necessary evidence in support of their applications.
“Where insufficient evidence is provided visa applications may be refused, though the individual is able to apply again at any time and any new evidence will be considered.”
Mr Murphy told BBC Radio Scotland’s Morning Extra: “These folk have had to fill in the forms - I don’t know if they have made a mistake, or there are rules, because we have got tougher immigration rules.
“They have been before, so have they just made a mistake, are there new members of the band, what’s going on?”
He went on: “We have got to get to the bottom of it, but time is not on our side here.
“So I will continue trying to find out what’s going on and whether they can still get in to Scotland.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article