ISLAMABAD: The government has placed the name of former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Mohammad Shamim on the Provincial National Identification List (PNIL) barring him from travelling abroad due to the ongoing contempt of court proceedings against him.
Talking to reporters at Immigration and Passport Directorate, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that Shamim’s name would be placed on the exit control list (ECL) after a meeting of the relevant committee.
The former GB judge is one of the central figures in a case related to his affidavit, in which, he accused former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar of colluding to deny bails to top PML-N leadership before the 2018 general elections.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is currently conducting hearings on the matter.
He appealed to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to hold its scheduled inflation march on March 30 instead of March 23.
“If they did not take the law in their hand then we will also not take the law into our hand,” he said.
Most of the Corps’ headquarters were on the GT Road, therefore some routes leading to Islamabad be closed for traffic around seven days before Pakistan Day celebrations, he said, adding if the opposition leaders found the roads blocked on reaching Islamabad, then they should not complain that the government had closed the road.
Rashid said the PDM had given four months’ time only for “publicity of their company”.
The opposition, which could not select a proper date and date for their movement, then how they would topple the PTI government, he said, adding the PDM needed to review its decision.
The minister said he had issued directives to start strict implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP). “Action will be taken against all those people who defame Pakistan and were playing a role in demoralising our police, so that the country can escape this infamy,” the interior minister said.
He said that regular updates would be provided to the nation on the NAP as per the prime minister’s instructions to keep people briefed about developments.
The minister said there was no backlog of passports and the Immigration and Passport Directorate was issuing passports within 24 hours.
“We are ready to provide passport to former premier Nawaz Sharif within 24 hours, if he wants to come to Pakistan,” he said, adding he would ask the embassy to provide documents at his residence but even then he would not come.
Rashid said he directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take action against the “big fish”, who were involved in smuggling and hoarding of foreign currency.
He said the government would provide maximum facilities to overseas Pakistanis, with online passports being provided in 191 countries and e-passports launching soon. “We hope that e-passports will be launched within the next 100 days,” he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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