78 Mobile Registration Vans inaugurated
Minister for Interior, Ahsan Iqbal Friday inaugurated 78 new Mobile Registration Vans ( MRV) of National Database Registration Authority ( NADRA) to facilitate the people specially those living in remote areas of the country.
Addressing media after inauguration, the minister said he had also directed NADRA to launch 100 more registration vans as soon as possible to ensure maximum regis- tration of people before up-coming general election in the country. He said the government had also decided to establish more NADRA offices across the country.
He said it should be ensured that the women of remote areas would be fully facilitated so that they could equally participate in the general election.
Replying to a question, the minister informed that at present, around 125,000 National Identity Cards were blocked due to some reasons and as verification of those cards were to be done by the district management, therefore the government had directed all members of parliaments to help verify those cards with the help of their respective deputy commissioners. Regarding visa policy, the minister said security was a very important and sensitive issue and strict monitoring was being done for extending visas to the foreigners.
However he said liberalizing visa regime was inevitable in order to attract more foreign investors in the country.
"We will have to make a balanced policy regarding provision of visas as our competitor regional countries are already offering very liberal visa regime, so if we want to see our country a very developed and economically strong, we will have to liberalize our visa regime," he added.
He said facilitation in provision of visas to the foreigners would help increasing numbers of tourists as well as foreign investors. To another question, the minister said International Non-Government Organizations (INGOs) were strictly monitored and those involved in anti-state activities would not be spared at any cost. However, he said there were many INGOs such as Agha Khan Trust which were involved in pure humanitarian activities in the country which would be further facilitated by the government.
He said since launch of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the country, some elements were active to sabotage the project through various tactics.
He said China was the timetested friend of Pakistan and "we should be grateful to China on bringing huge investment in the country instead of alleging it for various reasons".
Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan was in take-off position and its econom- ic was rapidly rising in the region and its importance was being recognized on various fronts including World Economic Forum.
Replying to another question on Kasur incident, Ahsan Iqbal said Punjab police had done a great job by tracing the culprit of Zainab case, however some elements were not digesting this success therefore they started another propaganda by allegedly involving influential personalities in the case.
He said all the claims of a TV anchor regarding holding 37 bank accounts by the culprit had been proven totally wrong.