The Ministry of Religious Affairs is planning to develop a concrete mechanism for regulating the visits of Zaireen (Shia pilgrims) to the holy places on the pattern of Hajj pilgrims in order to resolve their problems on permanent basis.
Ministry of Religious Affairs Additional Secretary Akbar Sharif told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior that his ministry held meetings with all relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, provincial governments, and security officials for devising a Hajj-like mechanism to avert problems faced by Shia pilgrims who visit holy places in Iran, Iraq and other countries.
Sharif said this when the committee presided over by Senator Rehman Malik expressed concern over stopping of 1,200 Zaireen at Pak-Iran border. The Ministry of Religious Affairs will finalise mechanism to deal with the problems of Zaireen within the next few months, he added.
A senior official of the Ministry of Interior told that Zaireen obtain visa for visiting holy places through tour operators. The Ministry of Interior has contacted the provincial governments but they did not have data of tour operators who arrange visas for Zaireen, he said, adding that now the federal government is devising mechanism to make a database of tour operators.
Malik said legislation should be made for Zaireen on the lines of Hajj, adding that the Ministry of Interior should make additional arrangements for them.
He told that he on Thursday last took a suo motu notice of the issue of 1,200 Zaireen stranded at Pak-Iran border Taftan, Balochistan. He told that he was informed around 1,200 pilgrims have been stranded at the Iran-Pakistan border for the last two weeks due to lack of security needed to escort their buses to Quetta.
The committee strongly condemned and rejected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's irresponsible and anti-Pakistan statement as well as passed a resolution terming his statement highly irresponsible. Malik asked the government to register a serious protest with the Afghan government and demand Ghani to withdraw his irresponsible statement immediately and tender an apology.
He said he would like to remind Ashraf Ghani about a meeting between the then prime minister of Pakistan and then Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul where Ghani and he as then interior minister of Pakistan were also present. He said during the meeting, he proved Afghan Intelligence agencies' interference in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Senator Javed Abbasi said Ashraf Ghani is part and parcel of Indian spy agency RAW and he is being played in India hands against Pakistan. He said President Ghani is well exposed after this statement that he is working for India against Pakistan. "Actually President Ghani is annoyed for being ignored in peace talks so by his tweet, he wanted to divert people's attention," said Senator Javed Abbasi.
The committee also discussed Sahiwal incident wherein four people including three members of a same family were killed by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials on January 19.
Malik said he issued a reminder to Prime Minister Imran Khan in his capacity as chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior to constitute a judicial commission as per demand of the committee members and the victim families of Sahiwal incident. The committee is waiting for the court decision regarding constitution of the judicial commission and will follow the case till its logical conclusion, he said.
Senator Muhammad Yaqoob Khan briefed the committee about the hurdles being faced by the people in issuance of computerised national identity cards (CNIC). He told the committee that a number of people, especially Pashtun, are facing problems despite producing required evidence for issuance of CNICs.
The committee directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) chairman Usman Yousaf Mobin to facilitate the people during their process of registration, adding that they must not be discriminated.
Malik said laws can be amended to ease the process of registration and facilitate the people especially those who are uneducated.
Usman Mobin explained the rules and regulations for public that their identity could be proved before issuance of CNIC. The district committees are appointed under the respective deputy commissioner to verify the documents of the people whose identities are doubtful, he said, adding that 2.4 million Afghans were registered as refugees initially to provide them financial aid but about one million claimed that they repatriated to Afghanistan for getting aid of settlement.
He explained that the NADRA is taking help of verification agencies to get authentic information regarding these 156,000 doubtful cases to make sure that these people are not fake or illegal immigrants.
The committee directed the NADRA to revisit its policy of the seven documents required for registration, facilitate the people maximum and ease the verification process.
Besides others, Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati and senior officials from Ministry of Interior, Religious Affairs and Law and Justice also attended the meeting.
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