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| India-Pakistan |
| Govt aware of foreigners joining 'unwanted' groups: Qureshi |
| 2008-05-08 |
| The government is aware of instances where foreigners visiting Pakistan to attend tableegh (preaching of Islam) have established links with ‘unwanted’ groups, Foreign Affairs Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed the Senate on Wednesday. Responding to a question, he said that around 1,147 applications for attending tableegh gatherings were received by Pakistani missions in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, India, Turkey and Bangladesh during the last three years. Of these, Qureshi said that 1,133 applicants were granted Pakistani visas for this purpose, while the Pakistan mission in Ankara rejected the cases of 14 applicants because the visa officer was not satisfied with the particulars of the individuals. Overstaying: He maintained that the government had adopted a liberal visa policy, adding that there were some cases in which people had been admitted to madrassas in violation of their visa conditions. “We have information that people misuse Pakistan’s liberal visa policy by overstaying here,” he added. To another question, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said that the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) had earned a profit of Rs 3.1 billion during 2006-07 fiscal period. She said the PSM currently employed 16,483 people, including 3,761 daily wagers and contractual employees. |
| Posted by:Fred |