Says issue of Asif Zardari’s aides’ disappearance discussed with intelligence agencies; Interior Ministry will receive inquiry report on DawnLeaks in few days
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said the issue of blocked computerised national identity cards (CNICs) should not be politicised as it was an issue of Pakistani nationality, not Pakhtuns.
Addressing a press conference here at the Punjab House, the minister said a total of 353,085 CNICs had been blocked so far out of which 178,891 were being unblocked temporarily for 60 days while the remaining 174,084 of foreigners were cancelled.
He said the decision was taken in the light of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee constituted to review the CINCs blocking issue. He said those people, whose CNICs were being temporarily unblocked, would have to provide documentary evidence about their Pakistani nationality within 60 days.
He said the evidentiary proof to establish that the holder of an unblocked CINC was a Pakistani national could be family record from revenue department, land record before 1978, domicile, education certificate, passport, national identity card, weapon or driving licence and service record of his family members.
Nisar said the holders of blocked CNICs could also file appeals if they had any valid documentary evidence of being Pakistani nationals. He said some 3,640 CNICs were also returned voluntarily by foreigners.
The minister said the process for CNICs verification was initiated to remove anomalies in the system as Pakistan was waging a war against terror. He urged the politicians to unite people on national issues like that of CNICs verification. He said an across-the-board scrutiny of CNICs was underway as evident from the fact that CNICs of some 125,000 non-Pashtun persons had also been blocked so far.
Regarding passports, the minister said so far 33,025 passports, including around 32,000 issued to the Afghan nationals, were cancelled. Nisar said the government had decided to re-launch the Pakistan Origin Card with a new name as Temporary Residence Card. He said one year visa would be issued to any foreigner woman married to a Pakistani national, which would be extended to five years more subject to security clearance.
Nisar said international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) would be allowed to continue their work after registration and fulfilling codal formalities of the Interior Ministry. Over 100 INGOs, he said, had been working in the country for the past 12 years without any permission from the government. Now, he said, 62 INGOs had been registered while around 130 applications were received for registration.
Nisar said the government took various steps to streamline the visa policy during the last three and a half years. He said in past hundreds of thousands visas were issued without following the set procedure, including documentary records.
He reiterated that no stateless person would be accepted in the country.
He said some prominent people having no proper documents were sent back soon after their arrival at Pakistani airports. The minister said landing card had been strictly banned while work was in progress to issue online visas, which would also help end the role of middleman. To a question, he said Khanani and Kalia were acquitted by the court and appeals against the decision were still pending before the Sindh High Court (SHC). He said there was no record of Rs103 billion remittance and the FIA was reinvestigating the issue. He said it was a case of money laundering, in which local banks were also involved.
To another question, Nisar lauded the role of Rangers for restoring law and order in Karachi, adding that the Interior Ministry was in touch with the Sindh government for extension in the tenure of Rangers deployment in Karachi.
He said efforts of Pakistan were praised by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for removing blasphemous content on social media. To another question, he said the ministry would receive the inquiry report about the DawnLeaks within a few days. He said the issue of disappearance of former president Asif Zardari’s three aides has been raised with intelligence agencies. He said disappearance of anyone is unacceptable.
He said Dr Asim, Ayan Ali and Pervez Musharraf were allowed to go abroad by courts and it was unfortunate to term the same as political deals. To a query about the Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav, he said the Indian High Commission’s request to have access to the spy was disallowed because he was not an ordinary Indian citizen and he was arrested red handed.