During PML-N government's tenure Country's missions in US issued 108,906 visas, National Assembly told

A total of 108,906 Pakistani visas were issued by the country's missions in United States during the tenure of incumbent government, Foreign Office told National Assembly on Friday. The Foreign Office, through a written reply, told the House that the visas were issued in five missions in the US, which included Washington where 27,428 visas were issued, Los Angeles which issued 15,462 visas, a total of 29,584 visas were issued by Pakistan's mission in New York while 14,232 visas were issued in Chicago during the tenure of the present government.
However, the Foreign Office referred another question to Ministry of Interior in which it was asked whether the total number of the said visas holders returned back to their home countries within the prescribed time. To a supplementary question, Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastagir told the House on behalf of the Foreign Office that the visas were issued on the permission of Ministry of Interior.
On the present status of registered and unregistered Afghan refugees in the country, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lieutenant General Abdul Qadir Baloch (Retd) said that currently there were 1.55 million registered and estimated one million un-registered Afghans living in Pakistan. About the repatriation of the Afghan refugees, he said that from January 2008 to 31st December 2015 a total 126,595 registered Afghan refugees families comprising 681,114 individuals were repatriated to their home country.
Like most of the questions related to various ministries that were either deferred or transferred to other departments or ministries, the Foreign Office also deferred to next Rota day an important question in which it was asked whether Pakistan is part of the Saudi led 34-membner Islamic military alliance against terrorism as well as its objectives and the role that has been assigned to Pakistan.
To another question about present status of Pakistan and India dialogue process, the Foreign Office told the house in a written reply that as per the joint statement issued on 9th December during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister, Jammu and Kashmir dispute will be an important item under the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.
The House was also informed that the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India are scheduled to meet on 15th January 2016 to discuss the modalities and time schedule of the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue, which would include discussions on all outstanding issues including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir while responding to another question said that the government was encouraging women's participation in commercial activities and for the purpose 15 percent quota has been reserved for women entrepreneurs.
He said 50 percent discount was being given to women entrepreneurs participating in international trade fairs. Responding to another question, he said that the government was bringing structural changes towards value addition to enhance country's exports. He said that overall exports of Pakistan crossed 25 billion dollars for the first time and recorded a growth of 3.5 percent in the financial year 2013-14. At the same time he also stated that Pakistan's exports were witnessing decline since the last financial year. In FY 2014-15, exports of Pakistan recorded negative growth.
It was also informed that Pakistan's exports to China and UAE have declined to 13.71 percent and 24.5 percent in the FY 2015, respectively. China has abandoned its policy to store raw cotton and yarn that comprises major portion of Pakistan export basket, the minister said. He further said that China's policy shift has also affected international prices of yarn. He said that the exports to UAE had declined due to decrease in the exports of petroleum products, chemicals, jewellery and rice. He said textile policy 2014-19 contains various short to long-term initiatives to double exports of textile sector from current 13 billion dollars to 26 billion dollars.
The minister said the government had devised an aggressive plan for marketing of handicrafts and home-made products particularly for the terrorism affected areas. He said the special package announced by the government for textile sector in the budget of 2014-15 has been extended for the current financial year. He said that duty free import of textile machinery will continue in the current fiscal year. To another question, he told the House that as many as 199,860 number of donkey hides were exported by Pakistan in the last three years. While around 6950 horse hides were also exported during the said period.