The Interior Ministry has instructed the immigration staff and FIA at all the country airports to provide a 3 months gratis visa/landing permit to all relief workers/doctors arriving from abroad, whose intent is to participate in relief activity in the quake-hit areas.
"This facility has become valid with immediate effect," said a ministry's press release.
Interior ministry spokesman said that a total of 205 flights both commercial and chartered carrying 2873 rescue workers from 61 countries have been briefed by the FIA control room so far.
Elaborating on other relief efforts of the ministry, the spokesman said that ministry's Air Wing has five helicopters in all. Two of them have been assigned tasks with AJ&K government and other three have been dedicated to performing round the clock duty of carrying relief goods and transporting casualties. As far as the maintenance of law and order in the quake-hit areas, 1400 personnel from Punjab Rangers, Police, Traffic Police, Sindh Police and ICT Police have been dispatched by the ministry to AJ&K, he said, adding in NWFP, the ministry has activated 30 platoons of Ex-Frontier Constabulary and one wing of Frontier Corps.