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ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Thursday expressed the confidence that the opposition would not resign from assemblies before the upcoming Senate polls.
Talking to reporters during a visit to Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, he asked why the opposition was keen to take part in the by-polls for national and provincial assemblies’ seats if it was serious about quitting assemblies.
In reply to a question, he said security for Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was not being withdrawn. He said the Maulana wanted to create anarchy in the country by using students of seminaries. “I urge the Maulana to have mercy on politics and democracy as well on himself.”
About an alert on threats to lives of 20 politicians, including Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the minister said he feared a case would be filed against him if something untoward happened. He recalled cases were filed against those who had informed about threats to the life of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Announces plan to launch ‘express passport service’
Answering another question, he said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was an ally and would be pacified. He said during his trip to Karachi, he would also visit MQM’s headquarters Nine Zero, besides holding a meeting with the Sindh governor and visiting headquarters of Rangers, FC and Coast Guards.
To a question about former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s plan to travel to Saudi Arabia, he said he was unaware of the expiry date of his passport.
The minister announced a plan to launch the ‘express passport service’ in next 120 days for issuance of travel documents within 24 hours. He said a new E-passport containing all important data would be launched on April 28. The interior minister also announced passport SMS service from today (Friday). He said under the service passport holders would be intimated about expiry of their passports six months in advance to save them the hassle of rushing for renewal at the last minute in emergencies.
He said with a view to facilitating the labour force from Pakistan working in the Middle East, passports with validity of 10 years would be issued against Rs3,000 from now on. He said the validity of red and blue passports would remain unchanged.
He further said that the online passport service would also be introduced on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, but it would take time beyond 120 days — a timeframe set to revamp the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports.
He declared that the officers of the passport department serving abroad beyond their normal term will be brought back next month and replaced by new officers.
The minister disclosed that 100,000 individuals were on two separate blacklists maintained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and passports department.
He said he had issued directions to trim the lists to bring down the number to one fourth of the existing size.
Sheikh Rashid said a system was being evolved to make sure that Chinese nationals working on CPEC projects would not need to come to the interior ministry. He warned all petrol pumps to stop selling smuggled petrol in a week or be ready to face stern action.