ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that the ministry will receive the inquiry report about the Dawn leaks within a few days.
Addressing news conference in Islamabad on Saturday, he said that Dr Asim, Ayyan Ali and Pervez Musharraf were allow
ed to go abroad by courts, and that it was unfortunate to term the same political deals. To a query about the Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, he said the Indian High Commission’s request to have access to the spy was disallowed because he was not an ordinary Indian citizen who was arrested red-handed.
To another question, he said that a total of 353,085 Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) had been blocked so far, of which 178,891 were being unblocked temporarily for 60 days, while the remaining 174,084 cards of foreigners were cancelled.
He said the decision was made in the light of recommendations of the parliamentary committee constitut
ed to review CINCs’ blocking issue.
He said that the people whose CNICs were being unblocked for no
w would have to provide documentary evidence about their Pakistani nationality within 60 days.
The evidentiary proof to establish that the holder of an unblocked CINC was a Pakistani national could be family record from the revenue department, land record before 1978, domicile, education certificate, passport, national identity card, wea
pon or driving licence and service record of his or his family members, he added. He said the holders of blocked CNICs could also file appeals if they had any valid documentary evidence of being Pakistani nationals. He said that foreigners had also returned 3,640 CNICs voluntar
ily.
The minister said the issue of blocked CNICs should not be politicised, as it was an issue of Pakistani nationality. The process for CNIC verification was initiat
ed to remove anomalies in the system, as Pakistan was waging a war against terror, he said. He urged the politicians to unite people on national issues like that of CNIC verification. An across-the-board scrutiny of CNICs was underway, as evident from the fact that CNICs of
some 125,000 non-Pashtun persons had also been blocked so far, he added. Regarding passports, the minister said so far 33,025 passports, including around 32,000 issu
ed to Afghan nationals, had been cancelled.
Nisar said the government had decid
ed to re-launch the Pakistan Origin Card with a new name: “Temporary Residence Card”.
He said that a yearlong visa would be issu
ed to any foreigner woman marri
ed to a Pakistani national, which would be extend
ed to another five years, subject to security clearness.
He said that international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) would be allow
ed to continue their work after registration and fulfilling codal formalities of the Interior Ministry.
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