Islamabad:
The Senate’s Standing Committee for Interior was informed on Thursday that over 12,000 Afghan citizens were caught in the last five years while traveling to Saudi Arabia on fake Pakistani passports.
The committee, who met with its chairman Faisal Saleem in the chairman, postponed a briefing on the law and the order situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) when the provincial home secretary and police inspector (IG) did not attend the meeting.
At the start of the meeting, the participants offered Fateha to the deceased soul from the deceased Senator Taj Haider. While the participants who took the agenda showed reservations about the absence of KP officials. The chairman postponed the briefing until the next meeting.
Director -General Passports Mustafa Jamal Qazi told the meeting that 12,000 people reached Saudi -Arabia on fake Pakistani passports. Of those, 3,000 photo-exchanged passports had, while 6,000 passports were issued by manipulating the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) data.
“Most of the people who traveled on these false documents were deported to Afghanistan. None of them are now in Pakistan, the Qazi committee told. He added action against several officials in Nadra and Passport Department, involved in the false passport case.
When a committee member asked if any officers were met or just low officials were punished, the passports replied that 35 assistant directors were also included among the people facing the action.
The passport DG also raised the question of the financial problems in his department. He said they earn RS50 billion annually.
Meanwhile, the question of vehicles with tinted windows was also taken up at the meeting. The Director of the Point Department, Muhammad Bilal, told the committee that since August more arrests were made and RS33 million were introduced in fines on vehicles with tinted windows.
The committee members raised the question under which law of action was taken against such vehicles. At this, a Ministry of the Interior’s officials told the participants that there was no specific law on this issue. The President proposed the department in question to set a fee for this purpose.
The committee also expressed serious concern about the illegal activities in Islamabad’s guesthouses. The chairman revealed that many guest houses in the federal capital become Shisha cafes, bars and drugs.
Islamabad IG assured the committee to take steps towards illegal guest houses and drug dealers. The chairman emphasized a zero -tolerance policy for drugs. He sought a list of all guest houses in Islamabad and a complete report on the actions taken against them.
