LAHORE: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has announced that Pakistan was issuing 21-day transit visas to people coming to Pakistan from Afghanistan, asserting that the Chaman and Torkham borders were now open.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore today (Friday), the minister said the particulars of people coming to Pakistan through these borders were being recorded, adding that Pakistan was ready to issue visas to Afghans if their details and documentations are correct.
“We are willing to issue visas to the diplomats of all countries including the United States and the United Kingdom,” the federal minister added.
The interior minister said that 1,500 people were evacuated from Kabul and 1,480 people reached here via Torkham. “The entire world is lauding Pakistan’s historic role in this crisis,” Rashid said.
Speaking about India’s role in the Afghan situation, the minister said that India’s entire focus is on creating anti-Pakistan propaganda. He likened India to a humiliated person that attempts to redirect their anger by targeting others.
He also condemned the deadly attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, saying that US President Joe Biden had warned of something like this happening.
Speaking of the Opposition alliance, Sheikh Rashid criticised how the focus of international politics is on Peshawar, but the movement is headed to Karachi.
Lauding the government’s performance over the last three years, he said that the burden of cases on the courts reduced the most during PM Imran Khan’s government. “Forming a political party is not an easy task but Imran Khan managed to do it,” he added.
He said all the accountability cases will be concluded within the remaining two years of PM Imran Khan’s term, and “many people will end up in jail” in this time.
