Pakistan to set up new European-style surveillance for foreigners

ISLAMABAD: The government has resolved to adopt the American and European style of surveillance for keeping a track of foreigners visiting Pakistan.

During the intra-provincial committee meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary brought to light the issue of Afghan students studying in various seminaries all across the country.

The secretary gave the committee a briefing in which he elaborated on the student’s links with the militancy in Pakistan on which the national security adviser stated that such students need to be put under surveillance and sent back to their homelands immediately on expiry of their visit visas.

The secretary also said that they are closely monitoring the situation and might change the visa regime in the near future.

During the meeting, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif suggested that Pakistan should adopt the same tracking system that the US and European countries use to keep foreign visitors in their country under observation. He further stated that there is a crucially growing need for having such a tracking system which aids in monitoring the movement of foreigners.

This comes after the former interior minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan’s order in April to suspend the issuance of visas on arrival (landing permits) for foreigners to avoid any ‘irregularities’ in the database.

The interior minister also ordered the Interior Ministry to revise and update visa rules.