ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Monday said that the crackdown against those who are involved in hoarding the US dollar has been intensified and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested 88 persons in this connection across the country.

Addressing a press conference, he said that the ministry has also ordered to initiate audit inquiry against five mega exchange companies in this regard and a desk will be set up in this connection following the instruction of the prime minister.

"Out of 88, first information report (FIR) has been registered against 47 people," he said.

To a question about Afghanistan, he said that peace in Afghanistan will ensure peace in Pakistan. He asked the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of the opposition parties, to make decision while keeping in view the emerging situation in Afghanistan. If any crises emerge in Afghanistan it would have spill over effect on Pakistan, he said.

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He said that out of 27,000 non-governmental organisation (NGOs) working in Pakistan, 91 are using foreign funding. The government will conduct audit of these 91 NGOs, he said.

Terming the issuance of a fake Covid-19 vaccination certificate as an attempt to defame the hard work of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the interior minister said that the FIA has been directed to take strict action against the people involved in issuance of the fake vaccination certificate.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had asked to bury nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan in the limits of Faisal Mosque, but the family members of the deceased Pakistani nuclear scientist decided to bury him at the H-8 graveyard of Islamabad.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021