ISLAMABAD: The government is taking measures to provide machine readable passports to overseas Pakistanis through Pakistani embassies abroad. This was told to the National Assembly during question hour on Friday. The parliamentary secretary for Interior Marriyam Aurangzab said that the project of machine readable passports had been commenced by the government last year.
In some countries like Yemen and Afghanistan, machine readable passports could not be issued to Pakistanis because of the precarious law and order situation. She informed the house that National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) had collected revenues of Rs 20 billion and immigration department has gathered Rs 21 billion. Replying to a question, she said that some Pakistani nationals also got Afghan cards but all these cards were cancelled.
She said that NADRA had blocked some 126,000 national identity cards and some 106 Afghan refugees were banished from the country after cancelling their fake Pakistani national identity cards. She said that a special force had been formed at a cost of Rs 21.57 billion to safeguard the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), whereas Rs 71 billion was allocated for the civil armed forces.
Marriyam said that Interior Ministry had accomplished the job of computerisation of land records on war footing basis and within two years the entire record would be computerised. She said that the compliance of law regarding one dish serving in the parties was also implemented in Islamabad .On violation of the above law a fine of up to Rs 0.5 million is imposed.
She said that before blocking anyone’s national identity cards, a notice was served to them seeking original identity documents. If they fail to provide these proofs, then the matter is put up before a high level board, which decides on the matter. “Blocking anyone’s card without any solid reason is out of the question.” MNA Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said that thousands of people are trying their best to retrieve their blocked identity cards. The Speaker asked Bilour to provide the list of such persons whose cards are blocked, so that a special committee may be constituted to look into the matter.