Malaysian citizens of Pakistani origin: Senate panel takes notice of visa extension issue

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Wednesday directed the Interior Ministry to come up with a solution with regard to difficulties in visa extension faced by Malaysian citizens of Pakistani-origin.

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior, which met here with Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, MNA in the chair issued the directives after MNA Sher Akber Khan raised the issue faced by Malaysians of Pakistani origin.

The committee also directed the ministry to provide basic facilities, including provision of electricity and gas connections and carrying out rehabilitation work in the areas that are under process of land acquisition by the CDA.

The committee discussed, “The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Bill, 2021” – a government-sponsored bill – and deferred the bill till next meeting.

“The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2021 (Government Bill)” was presented before the committee and after detailed discussion, the committee recommended that the bill may be passed by the National Assembly.

The deputy chief development, Ministry of Interior, briefed the committee regarding the budgetary proposals relating to the Public Sector Development Project (PSDP) for the financial year 2022-23.

The committee was informed that the PSDP included 85 projects with 37 ongoing and 48 new projects, adding the total funds demanded for the PSDP amount to Rs35,451.456 million, of which Rs26,360.001 million are for completing ongoing projects, while Rs9,091.455 million are demanded for new projects.

The PSDP for the financial year 2022-23 was unanimously approved by the committee. The committee directed to give priority to completion of ongoing projects.

The Inspector General ICT Police briefed the committee regarding law and order situation in Islamabad. He informed the committee that with limited resources the Police department is trying its best to provide security and facilitate public.

The committee recommended that the pending cases of Shuhada package may be cleared at the earliest.

The committee also recommended bringing the salary of the ICT Police at par with police departments of the provinces.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022