The National Assembly on Thursday approved demands for grants worth Rs76.987 billion to meet developmental and non-developmental expenditures of the Interior Ministry during fiscal year 2014-15.
Rejecting the 170 cut motions moved by the opposition members, the House approved 11 demands for grants of the said division, moved by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
The heads for which the grants were approved include the interior division, passport organisation, civil armed force, frontier constabulary, Pakistan Rangers, and the narcotic control division.
Later, opening discussion on the cut motions, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MNA Shagufta Jumani said that the country is threatened by terrorism, adding that due to the poor law and order, foreign and domestic investors were reluctant to make investments.
She said that the government should take measures to ensure security of the worship places of minorities, adding that it was unfortunate that Pakistan had no record of foreigners living in the country.
She said the government had not taken the Parliament into confidence before starting an operation against terrorists in North Waziristan.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Rashid said that till date no report of the joint investigation has been made public.
He welcomed the government’s move to withdraw FIR against Tahirul Qadri’s son and 3,000 other people in Lahore.
Rashid opined that the police was not capable of dealing with terrorism.
He asked the government to renew the arms license, adding that it was unfortunate that the number of drug users in the country was rising.
Munazza Hassan proposed the re-structuring of all departments working under the interior minister to improve coordination level among those departments.
She also suggested an increase in budget allocation for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) saying that the FIA should be made a frontline agency by deploying competent and trained officials in the agency.
She stressed the need to introduce biometric system in National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to improve its performance.
Syed Asif Hasnain said that arms and other equipments of police department should be upgraded so that they may be capable of fighting against criminals and terrorists.
He also proposed an increase in the duration of validity of passports from 5 years to 10 years.
Ayesha Syed from Jamat-e-Islami (JI) proposed the introduction of a unified system across the country for preparing passports.
Rai Hassan Nawaz said that consumption of narcotics in the country was increasing and role of anti-narcotics department was not up to the mark.
Surayya Jatoi urged the government to ensure timely issuance of passports.
In response, State Minister for Interior Mohammad Baleeghul Rehman said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has managed to develop National Internal Security Policy in the short period of a few months.
Regarding arms distribution, he said that during the tenure of the previous government, a large number of illegal arms were distributed.
He said that now the government has ensured the issuance of passports on time and people have been given the choice to opt for a passport valid for a period of 5 years or 10 years.