ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has decided to abolish the visa fees for 126 countries to bring ease of doing business and attract businessmen, tourists, and travelers to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held the federal cabinet meeting today, in which several other important issues were discussed including the surge in recent terror incidents and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
According to the details, Prime Minister Shehbaz added that the visitors would get visas within 24 hours through the electronic travel authorization form.
“The deficiency of the visa fees would be made up by foreign exchange earned through investment and tourism, including religious tourism for which Pakistan has immense potential”, the prime minister said. The decision to abolish visa fees, made after a threadbare discussion, would be tabled before the cabinet for its consideration, the premier added.
Besides that, the meeting also discussed the establishment of E-gates at Gwadar Port and nine airports – initially in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi airports.
Moreover, the federal cabinet did not discuss the government’s decision to ban Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during the meeting today. Cabinet also postponed the discussion regarding invoking Article 6 against PTI founder Imran Khan, ex-president Dr Arif Alvi, and former deputy NA speaker Qasim Suri, ARY News reported citing sources.
Earlier, reports emerged that the matter of banning the former PM Imran Khan’s party will come under cabinet’s discussion today after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced the government’s decision to move the Supreme Court to impose a ban on PTI following his alleged involvement in anti-state activities. He stressed that the “PTI and Pakistan could not co-exist”.
Following the meeting, the Prime Minister, in his address, said that the government would not allow anyone to work against Pakistan, its people, and its army. He said that the PTI’s official website has talked against the army chief and his family. “We will not back down to protect Pakistan’s interests,” he added.
Furthermore, commenting on the recent surge in terrorism, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the terror attacks in Pakistan involving Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) using Afghan soil saying that was “unacceptable” as Pakistan was fully prepared to protect its citizens but desired to resolve the matter peacefully.
He called the terrorism wave a machination against Pakistan as it was taking place at a time when the coalition government was making efforts for the country’s development as it reached a Staff Level Agreement with IMF despite challenges and announced a three-month relief package for 96% of domestic power consumers.
Highlighting the role of Afghanistan in the surged wave of terrorism, the prime minister said the government was in interaction with them as Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif also visited there.
“But how is it possible that we hosted millions of their people here without any complaint? We treated them like our brothers and never considered them as a burden. But we were rewarded in the form of TTP attacks on our citizens to mar the country’s peace and business. This is not acceptable,” he remarked.
