ISLAMABAD – Federal Cabinet has decided to devise a comprehensive policy on Afghan refugees before the next extension of their stay in Pakistan.
Information Minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain while briefing media this evening, said 879,198 Afghan refugees have citizen cards of Afghanistan but reside in Pakistan. 13,94,000 have refugee cards while 500,000 are unregistered, 2 million Afghans are documented, he added.
He said the cabinet appointed DG Financial Monitoring Unit as part of compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regime.
The minister said Wage Board Chairman Justice Abdur Rauf has been appointed to make it effective.
Chaudhary Fawad said in order to tighten noose against tax defaulters, Federal Board of Revenue will start operation against one big defaulter of Pakistan from next week.
The minister said that lands comprising thousands of kanals have been retrieved in Islamabad. He said the operation to retrieve lands in Karachi has also started and so far seven thousand kanals have been recovered from encroachers.
He said the cabinet also decided to further strengthen the Right to Information Act in order to bring transparency in governance and citizens’ right to know.
Cabinet decided that tax exemptions for FATA and PATA will be retained for five years.
The prime minister directed all ministers to promote meritocracy and not give recommendations or receive recommendations for the favour.
The PM Khan also directed to increase the use of information technology to save precious resources and move towards the paperless economy.
