ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, on Tuesday, said that Kuwait has restored granting visas to Pakistani businessmen, family, and petroleum and medical students.

Addressing a press conference after his recent visit to Kuwait said that he visited Kuwait following the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

It was a successful visit after 2011, he said, adding, Kuwait authorities have removed ban on granting visas to Pakistanis after 12 years.

He said that Kuwaiti authorities want to open visas for the construction sector.

The minister said that there were a total 52 prisoners in Kuwait and only six want to be repatriated to Pakistan.

The minister said that 425 doctors would leave for Kuwait this week.

Saudi Arabia is also willing to give 30 percent of the three million visas to Pakistanis, he said. About the investigation of attack on journalist Asad Toor, he said that Islamabad police, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) were investigating the case.

The law enforcement agencies are close to trace one out of three attackers of the incident, he said.

The minister said that the NADRA will provide finger prints of the attackers till today (Wednesday).

If the law enforcement agencies failed to trace the culprits then an advertisement will be published with picture of suspects in the newspapers, he said.

He said that the receptionist of the residential apartment told the police that he did not stop the suspects as they were there also in the past.

It was mandatory to arrest the attackers as soon as possible as some people unnecessarily target our intelligence agencies on the behest of foreign masters.

Levelling of baseless against the intelligence agencies are damaging the country’s image, he said, adding that all those who level baseless allegation against our agencies will silence, if the police succeeded in the arrest of the attackers.

He said that the cybercrime directorate of the FIA will be equipped with modern equipment.

The cybercrime directorate of the FIA had received 36,000 complaints.

The cybercrime wing conducted 5,355 inquiries and registered 399 cases against cyber criminals, he said.

To another question about banning Hamid Mir’s talk show, he said that he has not imposed ban on the program.

I have not interacted with him in the past few years, nor have I ever been on his programme, he said.

Responding to a query, he said that his ministry had not placed name of any journalist on the blacklist or the Exit Control List.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021