ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said India blamed Pakistan for the attack on Indian military base in Uri without any evidence.

India had been making contradictory statements to malign Pakistan, he said adding “Director General Military Operations of India also denied the statements attributed to him following which censorship was imposed on media in India”.

The interior minister was speaking at a press conference at NADRA headquarters in the federal capital.

When asked to comment on an incident involving officials of motorway and armymen, Nisar termed it a serious issue and a test case for army and said “action should be taken against those who took law into their own hands”.

A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had been formed to probe the matter, he added.

To a question about MQM, Nisar said it was a defining moment and the way MQM Pakistan stood up against its leader, it should be given space and we should hold no doubts about their loyalty.

“Urdu speaking people are very patriotic and they should not get a feeling of any sort that they are being targeted.”

Nobody could think that MQM leadership could take such a big step against Altaf Hussain, he said, adding “everybody who stood up should be supported”.

Chaudhry Nisar said a reference was being sent to Interpol to bring back Brahamdagh Bugti to Pakistan.

82.5 million CNIC re-verified during 3-month campaign

Nisar said 82.5 million Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) out of the total 105 million had been re-verified in the three-month campaign.

Speaking at a press conference, the minister said the remaining CNICs would be re-verified in another month.

He said a permanent mechanism would be put in place for re-verification of CNICs to root out fake cards from NADRA system. He informed that NADRA had identified 200,000 fake identity card holders.

The minister said during the campaign 50,000 cards were blocked and 10,000 cases were sent to intelligence agencies for further probe.

The previous governments did not pay any heed to the issue of fake identity cards compromising the national interest, he remarked.

During campaign against fake documents, 2000 persons on their own disowned Pakistani nationality to avoid arrest and legal action, he said.

Nisar said tens of thousands of CNICs had been blocked, adding he wants that cards of genuine citizens should be unblocked and in that regard a policy would be announced next week.

The minister indicated to fix a time limit in which a person would be cleared for the issuance of his identity card, if nothing was found against him.

The government previously carried out crackdown against fake passport holders and cancelled 2,000 diplomatic and official passports given to unauthorised persons, he said.

In the past, 29,000 foreigners acquired Pakistani passports which were cancelled. Those passports were used for human trafficking.

Nisar said action was taken against 18 officials of NADRA and eight were arrested, seven were on pre-arrest bail while three were still at large.

More arrests would be carried out and departmental action would be taken against the accused who had committed treason against the country and sold identity cards for money, he said.

He said the misuse of passports and CNICs had been minimised through a persistent campaign.

The minister announced that e-passports would be issued soon, while more NADRA centres would be opened to facilitate citizens applying for identity cards.

In the first phase, new offices would be opened in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Gujranwala.

A helpline would also be established to redress complaints of citizens against NADRA and the interior ministry would monitor performance of NADRA offices.