ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry Friday informed the parliament that there were 1,640 missing persons in the country with 142 missing in Sindh – a majority of them hailing from Karachi. The Interior Ministry also informed the NA that 114,192,450 computerised CNICs had been issued by the NADRA. Giving the break-up, it added that 634,315 computerised cards were issued in Punjab, 23,755,847 in Sindh, 15,187,870 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 671,420 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 2,921,524 in Kashmir. In February, Head of the Commission on Enforced Disappearance Justice (r) Javed Iqbal had offered to brief the Supreme Court judges in their chamber on missing persons cases, particularly those related to the province of Balochistan Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Sajid Ilyas Bhatti had submitted a report on behalf of the commission before the apex court’s three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, which had been hearing the missing persons’ case for the last couple of months. The report said the commission had disposed of 3,000 cases of missing persons while 1,577 cases were still pending. Meanwhile, the National Assembly was informed on Friday that 48 additional border border posts had been constructed along the Pak-Afghan border to curb smuggling. In response to a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Interior Dr Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla said that after the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad, the smuggling of illegal weapons had been curtailed in the country. He said 207 illegal weapons had been confiscated during the last year. Replying to another question, he said that the government had taken a number of steps to give maximum protection to journalists so that they could perform their duties without any fear or threat. The secretary said all station house officers in federal capital had been directed to register a case upon receipt of any complaint by any journalists without any delay. Similarly, mobile patrolling has also been increased in the areas where offices of journalists, press clubs and residences are situated, he said. He told the House that CNICs have been issued to 114.19 million people in the country. “The government is facilitating people to get their particulars registered with NADRA after attaining the age of 18 and there is no policy to issue identity cards to aliens.” Replying to another question, Dr Ibadullah said public sector development programme was for the entire country and funds were allocated without any discrimination. He said for the first time in the history of the country, PSDP 2017-2018 was raised to Rs 101 billion. Published in Daily Times, March 17th 2018.