Zainab murder case Spin-off story of TV anchor an attempt to belittle govt’s efforts: Ahsan

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal Friday said that a “spin-off” story of anchorperson anchor Shahid Masood regarding alleged bank accounts of accused murderer in Zainab’s case was an attempt to belittle the efforts of government. Iqbal in his talk said that media and Supreme Court fell for the fabricated story, which should be a lesson for everyone to crosscheck what they run. He added that social media was being used as a tool to fabricate truth and create a new twist over Kasur rape case. “This proves how big of a tool of chaos and disruption social media is as it later turned out that the news run by an anchor, on which the Supreme Court also took notice, was entirely make-believe.” “Make-believe, fictitious and false news stories will be spread by foreign agencies via social media,” he added. “This is the election year and we have to make sure that there’s no chaos spread in Pakistan be fully aware of those who spread such propaganda.” The Supreme Court, taking notice of Masood’s claims, on Thursday had ordered the Punjab Police to probe into the TV anchor’s claims that Zainab’s alleged murderer was part of an international racket involved in child pornography and that he held more than 37 foreign currency accounts. The bench asked the Punjab Police to investigate whether the accused, as claimed by Dr Masood, was actually working for some international group involved in child abuse. During the hearing, Dr Masood also appeared before the bench and said the accused was not a mentally ill person but was part of a racket. He claimed that influential people, including a federal minister, were backing him. He expressed fears that the accused might be killed in police custody. Separately, Ahsan Iqbal Friday inaugurated 78 new mobile registration vans (MRV) of the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) to facilitate the people, especially those living in remote areas of the country. Addressing the media after inauguration, the minister said he had also directed the NADRA to launch 100 more registration vans as soon as possible to ensure maximum registration of people before up-coming general election in the country. He said the government had also decided to establish more NADRA offices across the country. He said it should be ensured that the women of remote areas would be fully facilitated so that they could equally participate in the general election. Replying to a question, the minister said that around 125,000 National Identity Cards had been blocked and added that the government had directed all members of parliament to help verify those cards with the help of their respective deputy commissioners in their respective constituencies. Regarding visa policy, the minister said security was a very important and sensitive issue and strict monitoring was being done for extending visas to the foreigners. However, he said liberalising visa regime was inevitable in order to attract more foreign investors in the country. “We will have to make a balanced policy regarding provision of visas as our competitor regional countries are already offering very liberal visa regime, so if we want to see our country a very developed and economically strong, we will have to liberalize our visa regime,” he added. He said facilitation in provision of visas to the foreigners would help increasing the number of tourists as well as foreign investors. To another question, the minister said international non-government organisations (INGOs) were being strictly monitored and those involved in anti-state activities would not be spared at any cost. Referring to the CPEC, he some elements were active to sabotage the project through various tactics. “Today Pakistan was in take-off position and its economic was rapidly rising in the region and its importance was being recognised on various fronts, including World Economic Forum. He said political game in Balochistan was an undemocratic act and was aimed at derailing the democratic process in the country. He said PTI chief Imran Khan wanted a prolonged caretaker government as everybody knows that before July 2018, holding of general election was impossible as the process for holding of elections required some time. When asked about the recent drone attack in Pakistan, the minister termed it an act against sovereignty of the country. Published in Daily Times, January 27th 2018.