Issuance of 6,000 illegal visas to foreigners: Ministry asked to take strict legal action against officials

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Thursday directed the Ministry of Interior to take strict legal action against those officials who were involved in issuance of 6,000 illegal visas to foreign nationals. The meeting, which met with PPP-P Senator Rehman Malik, asked the Interior Ministry to properly investigate this matter.

"A large number of illegal immigrants is living in our country on their own and without any check," Rehman Malik said, adding that under 14 C of immigration acts illegal immigrants must be punished for three years imprisonment. The committee also demanded strict action under the law against those who were responsible for granting illegal visas to the illegal immigrants by putting national security at risk.

The committee also directed the Interior Ministry to devise a comprehensive policy of deportation of illegal immigrants in the national interest. Sher Alam Mehsud, additional secretary Ministry of Interior told the committee that the Ministry of Interior was investigating that matter and had also suspended officials in that regard.

Malik said that illegal immigrants were not only in Karachi but also present in every corner of the country. Whoever are illegal immigrants must be deported on right time, he said, adding that in other countries illegal immigrants are being deported within 24 hours.

He said that even in coronavirus situation countries including China, Saudi Arabia and United States had deported illegal immigrants. PPP-P Senator Sassui Palijo, while talking about a large number of foreigners living in Karachi and in Sindh province, who had also been illegally issued computerised national identity cards (CNIC) by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), said that over one million illegal immigrants including Afghani, Bengali and people from central Asian countries were living in Karachi. She said that action should be taken against those officials who had issued CNICs to them. Palijo said that illegal immigrants had become a burden on the resources of Sindh province.

The committee should be informed about the exact number of illegal immigrants as well as the exact number of illegal immigrant to whom the CNICs had been issued, she demanded.

Malik said that a fresh census should be conducted in Karachi in order to know about who was an illegal and who were living illegally. Yousaf Naeem Khokhar, secretary Ministry of Interior told the committee that this is very sensitive issue and suggested the committee to constitute a sub-committee to investigate this matter.

The committee constituted sub-committee to look into the matter regarding illegal immigrants. According to the reply submitted by the NADRA with respect to question raised by Senator Palijo, NADRA issues CNICs to Pakistani citizens.

If any foreigner acquires the CNIC through forged documents or through falsification then his/her card is cancelled, it said. It says that the NADRA has cancelled 1,376 CNICs of non-nationals and 17,499 CNICs have been digitally impounded on account of doubtful national status during the CNIC processing in Sindh.

As many as 34,387 cases have been blocked under confirmed alien category on the report of verifying agencies and referred district-level committees for confirmation of national status.

It further said that CNICs were only issued to foreign nationals only when they obtain citizenship through formal procedure. Malik said that missing persons commission come under the Ministry of Interior and the committee received many complaints regarding missing persons from Balochistan and other areas, therefore, the matter will be raised during the next meeting.

The committee also passed a resolution and appreciated the Ministry of Interior and all law enforcement agencies for maintaining law and order and security during Muharram all over the country.

Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad said that police and all enforcement agencies had ensured stringent security arrangements during Muharram but Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastgir had "not performed" due to which he was removed from his position.

The committee also expressed reservation over exchange of political statements on flood, and urged all politicians to stop playing politics on natural disasters at the cost of the poor masses.

"Federal and provincial governments jointly resolve problems faced by the people of Karachi," he said, adding that the federal government represented the State and the State was the mother, which had to look after each and every citizen of the land.

The committee also took up the matter of a woman's gang-rape during a robbery on the Lahore motorway near Gujjarpura, and sought report form the secretary Ministry of Interior, and the inspector general of police (IGP) Punjab.

The parliamentary body directed the Punjab police arrest the culprits involved in the heinous crime immediately. The meeting was also attended by Senator Kalsoom Parveen, Rana Maqbaool Ahmed, Haji Momin Khan Afridi, the chairman NADRA, and senior officials of the Ministry of Interior.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020