Naqvi says not aware of rumours about purported IK-establishment deal

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, on Monday, expressed ignorance about the rumours regarding a deal between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan and the Establishment.

Talking to reporters after the inauguration of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) Mobile Facilitation and Education Services, he said he had no knowledge about the alleged deal between Khan and the Establishment.

When he was asked that there were reports that Khan and the Establishment were making a deal, he said he had no information regarding this. “Ask those who are making it,” he further said.

To question about removal of Pakistan PTI leaders’ names from the exit control list (ECL), he said that a Cabinet Committee on ECL decided about the removal of names from the ECL after detailed deliberation. “This is a routine matter,” he said, adding that if anyone’s name should not be put on ECL then it should not be on ECL.

The federal government has reportedly removed the name of former principal secretary to former prime minister Azam Khan, PTI leader Murad Saeed, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Shafqat Mahmood, Azam Swati, Omar Ayub, Mehboob Sultan, former PTI leader Ghulam Sarwar, Parvaiz Khattak, Ali Zaidi, Khusro Bakhtiar, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Farogh Naseem, and Shireen Mazari.

The minister further said the government was reviewing the summary regarding the setting up of passport authority to make it financially independent. His ministry would soon present a bill regarding the setting up of passport authority as well as brief the federal cabinet, he said, adding the lack of financial independence with the passport directorate was causing delays in procurement for the printing material of passports.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024