Action against armed wings of political parties on the cards: Sh Rashid

PESHAWAR: Minister for Interior Shaikh Rashid Ahmed Friday said the government was going to take strong action against armed wings of the political parties.

The minister said the diplomatic passport of Nawaz Sharif would stand cancelled on its expiry on February 16 and the government would not renew it. “Pakistan have no extradition treaty with Britain under which Nawaz Sharif could be brought back, however efforts are underway on all fronts to get him repatriated to face corruption cases,” he said while addressing a press-conference here after winding up his two-day visit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and merged tribal districts.

The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan was fighting the scourge of corruption and he would not compromise with the corrupt elements. He said the manual visa system ceased to exist on December 31 with the launch of online system for 191 countries in line with the prime minister’s vision of making the process easy. He said the new system would help eradicate corruption and ensure transparency besides addressing complaints of the visa aspirants, especially from China and Afghanistan. He said about 200,000 visa applications were received through online system on its first day.

The minister said some 528 non-governmental organisations were working in Pakistan and action would be taken against those, which were found involved in politics. He said the protection of worship and holy places of minorities and their leadership was the constitutional and legal obligation of the government.

He said the KP chief minister had been directed to take strong notice of the recent unfortunate incident in Karak. Shaikh Rashid said the use of indecent language against the Armed Forces of Pakistan would not be tolerated and the case of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl leader Mufti Kifayatullah had been referred to the KP government for necessary action.

Shaikh Rashid the border management system with Afghanistan and other countries would be further strengthened as per international standards. He said the government strongly believes in freedom of media, which had a great role in the democratic system. “The media should, however, be more responsible while highlighting national and geo-political issues, and guiding the nation in the right direction towards a prosperous and tolerant society,” he said.

The minister strongly condemned India’s nefarious designs against Pakistan, saying its media’s malicious propaganda stood exposed before the entire world.

To a question about the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Shaikh Rashid said it was out to create political chaos and instability in the country. However, he said, it was encouraging that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had decided to take part in the Senate polls and by-elections, and hopefully the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz would also follow suit. He said the PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was now in a blind alley.

The minister said the government wanted to overcome price hike in 2021. He said concrete measures were being taken to bring down prices of all essential commodities. Shaikh Rashid said the people of KP had had never surrendered before inimical forces and rendered matchless sacrifices in the war against terror. He said there were still threats of terror acts in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore, and security has been beefed up in all the cities.

Earlier, the minister launched online visa service which put an end to the issuance of the travel document manually. He launched the service as he visited the Torkham border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He talked to the officials deployed at the border and expressed satisfaction at the overall security measures put in place there. He said Torkham border was playing the role of backbone of Pakistan's economy as it was a major route for exports and imports.

The minister said through Torkham border Pakistani exporters could reach the Central Asian States. He said the government would open four different components offices to facilitate the passengers and transporters at Torkham.

The minister asked the Afghan government to take steps at the Afghan side of the Torkham border to facilitate transporters and truckers. He said the government was introducing a standard system for import and export so that traders could benefit from it and increase the volume of exports.

The minister said the modern system being installed at Torkham border crossing would take less time to clear the containers and passengers.