Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border would be finished by June this year, while the fencing of the Pakistani border with Afghanistan is 89 percent complete.
Talking to a foreign news agency, Rashid said that fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border is 38 percent complete. “Infiltration, smuggling and many illegal activities are taking place without any check on the Pakistani borders with Afghanistan and Iran,” said the minister. “Now, after fencing, these things will be controlled.”
He said the government is committed to stopping smuggling from Iran at all costs. “We are going to stop and close all the petrol pumps which are using smuggled oil,” the interior minister said. “One month back we started a drive against it and there is a very good response, but it will take some time to stop this,” he added.
Responding to media reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved the setting up of a National Intelligence Coordination Committee to oversee all intelligence agencies, with the head of the ISI spy agency as its chief, Ahmed said: “There is not such an authority in which all the agencies are merged or working under it. All [intelligence] agencies are working on their own and giving their own performance reports and actions,” he added.
On Pakistan’s relations with Saudi Arabia, Ahmed said the relationship between the two countries have always remained strong and he would soon visit the kingdom to enhance cooperation in counterterrorism and other fields related to internal security.
“Saudis and Pakistanis are brothers and sisters and we have very close contacts. Our Armed Forces have very close contacts with each other while Prime Minister Imran Khan has also established very close contact with the Saudi leadership,” the minister said.
He was hopeful Pakistan’s relations with the United States would improve under the new administration of Joe Biden but said Pakistan would aim to maintain ties with the US without compromising its close relations with long time ally, China, which has given Islamabad over $60 billion for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor of energy and infrastructure projects.
“China is also close to our heart and we can’t lose the respect of China in any circumstances,” Ahmed said, “Especially CPEC which is one of the great services for the development of Pakistan (from China).”
Commenting on an alliance of opposition parties, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which is holding nationwide rallies asking for PM Khan to step down, the minister said the government would not create a hurdle in PDM’s decision to march to the capital next month but would act if they created a “law and order situation.”
“We are not under pressure and they can come to Islamabad peacefully and can stage a sit-in,” Ahmed said. “We will not create any hurdle but if there is a law and order situation, then the government can act.”
