Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday said that agents from foreign intelligence agencies cannot enter the country under the cover of diplomatic assignments.

While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Nisar said that the interior ministry was thoroughly checking and verifying every visa application before granting anyone admission to the country, including diplomats.

"This was not the case a few years ago when people used to travel to Pakistan using faked documents or without a valid visa and had to be given documents at airports here," he said.

"This does not happen anymore. No one can enter the country without proper documentation; and if they do, they are sent back immediately and the airline they are travelling on is penalised heavily."

The interior minister also said Pakistan will soon receive all visa applications online so that records can be maintained in a central database.

"We are moving past that era where one hand does not know what the other is up to in this country," Nisar said.

The centralisation process will begin as soon as formal approval is obtained from the Prime Minister House, he added.

Nisar also spoke of a crackdown on diplomatic missions in the country.

"A year and a half ago, there were 400 houses [belonging to foreign missions] that were not ready to share their information with the government. One day, the interior ministry decided to block the houses' entries and exits. As soon as we started doing that everything began to unravel," Nisar said.

"Today, I can say with full confidence that 40 houses belonging to diplomats have been emptied," he said.

"If someone asks me why there wasn't a further inquiry into the matter, my answer is that there was no record-keeping in the past 10 years, and so these cases cannot be pursued."

"Many of those people came into the country without a visa; and those who did have visas, their records were never sent to us by their embassies," he claimed.

"People within security agencies who were in service at the time told me that there had been some 'political deal-making' at the time and there was no record of how many people were coming into the country and leaving," he added.

"It took me a while to get to this point, but I can say with full confidence now that this country is not being used as a 'Banana Republic' anymore and all people who are entering the country are accounted for."

"Once our system goes online, everyone will be able to find out who is coming to Pakistan and who they are," he added.