ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Monday said that the government would soon expose those elements involved in the conspiracy behind the cancellation of the New Zealand cricket team tour to Pakistan as the investigation was in the final stages.
Addressing a press conference, he said that the summary for approval of on-arrival visas to citizens of 15 countries was being sent to the cabinet including the USA, Canada, France, and Iran as earlier citizens of 50 countries were eligible to get on arrival visas. He said that the cases of cyber-crime were increasing and the Ministry of Interior had received around 100,000 complaints during his tenure. Keeping in view the situation the government had decided to immediately release a fund of Rs 2 billion to upgrade this wing for appointing technical persons to get results.
He said that special directions had been issued to National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to have a check on fake Coronavirus vaccine certificates. He added unfortunately some elements were trying to disrespect the Pakistani identity card, passport, and vaccination which was a preplanned conspiracy. The minister said that 15 new security entries had been planned for further safety of passport while CNIC was also being reviewed. He assured that CNIC, passport, and vaccination would be fully secured.
Sheikh Rashid said that civil armed forces had been provided to the provinces while a command and control office would remain open round the clock to support the administrations on the occasion of Chehlam. Mobile service would be suspended on the recommendation of local administrations, he added. The minister said that the International Border Management System (IBMS) had been installed at Torkham and Chaman border to have data of incoming and outgoing people. He said that the NADRA had issued COVID-19 vaccine certificate to 7.5 million while the government had completed the vaccination of 76.1 million citizens across the country.
The minister said that the ministry had decided to start work on e-passport to avoid all issues related to the passport. He said, “Although we still have threats from extremist groups but Pakistan’s security agencies are vigilant to respond to any threat from enemies.”Sheikh Rashid said that the whole nation should be proud of having such professional security agencies and their sincere contribution to the country. “We have sacrificed more than any country of the world with loss of 80,000 lives and over 100,000 who received injuries and disabilities but still our morals are high with having the world’s most professional and sound army,” he added.
He said that Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) was facing internal confrontation and predicted that three more factions were likely to emerge from PML-N. He assured Shahbaz Sharif that as per his demand, the next general elections would be held in a free, fair, and transparent manner.