Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting on steps to be taken for the evacuation of foreign journalists in Afghanistan.
The meeting was attended by Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib, Information Secretary and other senior officials.
The Information Minister briefed the Prime Minister on the steps taken by the Ministry of Information regarding the evacuation of journalists in Afghanistan.
وزیر اعظم عمران خان کی زیر صدارت افغانستان میں موجود غیر ملکی صحافیوں کے انخلاء کے حوالے سے کیے جانے والے اقدامات پراجلاس pic.twitter.com/eteHMrhlpO
Advertisement— Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) August 20, 2021
Addressing a press conference, he said that the government has decided to remain open all Pakistani airports round-the-clock for foreign diplomats, journalists, and high officials of IMF, World Bank etc who are coming from Kabul.
Immigration department, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other concerned staff were available on airports to facilitate them, he said.
Rejecting the false propaganda of Indian media regarding the situation on Torkham and Chaman borders, he made it clear that there were no Afghan immigrants present over there.
“The situation on these two borders reportedly remained peaceful. The route was clear for trade and transit,” the minister maintained.
Sheikh Rashid, however, said personnel of armed forces, law enforcement agencies and government officials were on high alert. However, everything was under control on borders.
Since the mid of August, he said that at least 900 diplomats and other embassies’ staff had been evacuated from Afghanistan.
Similarly, three buses carrying Pakistani nationals had reached Pakistan via torkham border after the outset of Ghani’s government, he said.
A total of 613 Pakistani nationals had arrived so far, he informed.
The minister said that currently around 100-120 Pakistani nationals were still stranded in Afghanistan, however, the mission to evacuate them would be completed within a couple of days.
Responding to a question, the minister said that due to diplomatic efforts of the Pakistan, United States of America and Afghan Taliban sat on a negotiation table.
Pakistan’s efforts for peace process in Afghanistan would be remembered for long, he remarked.
The interior minister further said that lasting peace in Afghanistan was in the best interest of Pakistan.
“We will not allow anyone to use our soil against any country. We will also not tolerate if any other country’s land is used against Pakistan,” he added.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had attempted to convince Ashraf Ghani to hold talks with Taliban but the former Afghan President was not clear about that.
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