ISLAMABAD - Denying any pressure whatsoever from Army or from another quarter in the cases against former military dictator General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, Minister for Interior Ch. Nisar Ali Khan made it clear that his (Musharraf’s) name was on the Exit Control List (ECL) and would remain on the list until asked for removal by the apex judiciary.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday‚ he said cases relating to Employees Old-age Benefits Institution‚ Trade Development Authority‚ New Islamabad Airport‚ Pakistan State Oil and treason of retired General Pervez Musharraf would be taken to their logical conclusion within six weeks time.
He directed the FIA to expedite investigation into five high profile cases and create a cell to address complaints about corruption in government departments. He said cases would be investigated without fear or favour or political considerations.
Ch. Nisar Ali Khan clarified that the name of retired General Pervez Musharraf was on Exit Control List and would remain so until asked for removal by the highest court.
He said that the major hurdle in the FIA probe into the high treason case against Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf was his arrest in other cases and the moment he was released in these cases on bail, the FIA would engage him in the investigation into the case.
The minister said after Eid-ul-Azha‚ a System of Awareness and Protection would be devised jointly by NAB‚ FIA and Transparency International to help check instances of corruption in government departments. “For this purpose‚ it would be ensured that there is no violation of procurement rules and misappropriation,” he added.
The minister said reforms are being introduced in the passport issuance system to facilitate the general public. Urgent passport would be issued after four days of depositing of application as against five at the moment while ordinary passport would be handed over to the applicant in 10 days instead of 12 days.
Nisar said a home delivery system for passport is also being introduced so that the applicant is not bothered to visit passport offices every now and then.
Similarly‚ an applicant would be able to know the current status of his application for passport through an SMS system.
Ch. Nisar said over two thousand official and diplomatic passports issued illegally have been cancelled with one stroke of the pen without any discrimination.
He said official passports were issued to non-entitled people, including personal servants and some of the foreign countries ended agreements for visa abolition with Pakistan because of misuse of these passports by some people.
The minister said hundreds of thousands of unaccounted for SIMs are being used for illegal activities and this is not acceptable.
He said a meeting with the representatives of the cellular companies would be held soon and he himself would be holding meeting with heads of these companies to firm up a strategy to address the problem. He said the issue would be resolved with consideration of business interests of these companies as lives of people are more important than monetary benefits.
To a question, he said that some police officials of Islamabad Police were hands in glove with criminals in Federal Capital and he had directed IG Islamabad Police for thorough probe into the matter.