KARACHI: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said there is nothing surprising in the results of the population census and it should not be given a political colour.

He was talking to the media after performing the opening ceremony of the Nadra Mega Centre in district West.

The minister further said the census had also shown reduction in the population of Punjab.

Mr Iqbal added that instructions had been given to Nadra to facilitate people who wanted to acquire computerised national identity cards so that they could vote in next year’s general elections.

He also said that passport acquiring process was also being simplified.

In reply to a question, he said Karachi had come a long way since 2013 when over 100 factories in the city were closed and people wanted to shift to other cities. The PML-N government restored peace in the city and made those factories operational again.

Stresses need for educating students about ‘traps set by terrorists’

The minister said several members of the Ansarul Sharia Pakistan had been arrested and its absconders would also be caught soon. He appreciated the role of Sindh police along with intelligence and other security agencies in restoring peace in the city.

After his visit to the Pakistan Coast Guard Headquarters, he told journalists that the gang involved in the attack on Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s politician and leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izharul Hassan had almost been eliminated.

He said it was disturbing to know that country’s young and educated students were falling prey to terrorists. “There is a need to inform our students about the traps set by terrorist organisations. We need Nobel Prize winners and those who could revive our lost glory in the world of science and discoveries,” he added.

In that connection, he said, the Higher Education Commission had been issued instructions to ensure effective supervision and monitoring of institutions.

Ahsan Iqbal was also critical of some anchorpersons who were indulged in portraying negativity all the time and branding every politician dishonest.

He said the country would take full advantage of CPEC and would not let anyone disrupt it. “The project is the outcome of Pakistan’s everlasting friendship with China,” he said.

“China had always supported us. When no one wanted to invest in the country, China offered investment of $46 billion which changed the investment scenario completely in Pakistan,” the minister said.

In reply to another question, he said the armed forces were capable of defending the country against any foreign aggression.

During his visit to the Fatimah Jinnah College, near Nishtar Park, he advised female students to study hard.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2017