Raza Rabbani asked the government to explain if it was on reciprocal basis and described the operations of spy agencies from a number of countries in Pakistan unusual. The Norwegian intelligence chief on the floor of her parliament had disclosed the presence of agents of spy agencies of Norway in Pakistan.
Rehman Malik said the ISI and IB were responsible for keeping an eye on foreign spies and both agencies were under the control of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. He said some of the operatives of foreign spy agencies had been arrested in Balochistan, but gave no details. Malik said a special squad had been deployed at Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan on the way leading to Balochistan.
Earlier, Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek expressed dismay over the absence of ministers from the House, saying that a big amount from the national exchequer was spent on holding sessions but the cabinet members did not take interest in the proceedings. He said he would pass strict ruling if the ministers did not turn up in the House within 15 minutes. A few minutes after Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour arrived in the Senate hall to respond to questions included in the Question-Hour.
To a question, the interior minister said the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) had expedited the process for completing new electoral rolls on the directions of the apex court, and had also recruited additional temporary staff for this purpose.
He said a project had been launched for computerisation of the record of police stations. He said initially this project had been launched in 23 districts and later it would be extended to the entire country in phases. He said the project had already been implemented in the federal capital and software had been developed for availability of FIRs both in English and Urdu. Malik said the government was deploying all the necessary tools in coordination with other countries to curb the menace of human trafficking. He said eight human traffickers were arrested in 2011, 1,779 in 2010 and 1,755 in 2009.
The railways minister, while responding to a question, said he was ready to be dragged with rope around his neck if the Railways continued to face losses even after provision of another 400 locomotives.
He said presently 146 out of 496 locomotives were in working condition, adding 20 locomotives had been repaired. The minister said the Finance Ministry had arranged Rs6.1 billion from banks as part of efforts to revamp the Pakistan Railways. The defence minister informed the Senate that new aircraft on lease would be inducted into the fleet of Pakistan International Airlines by the end of February to help improve the efficiency of the national flag carrier.
Ahmad Mukhtar, answering a question, said the availability of new aircraft would help resume flight operations to and from the closed down airports. He said the replacement of aging fleet with new aircraft would also reduce the losses of the national airline. He pointed out that the old aircraft consume more fuel and substantial amount was incurred on their maintenance.
He said there were 26 operational airports in the country while seven had been shutdown on account of insufficient traffic load. He said a proposal to start flights to Kashgar from Islamabad or Skardu was under consideration. To another question, he said there was a proposal under consideration to withdraw the facility of free and concessional domestic and international air tickets for PIA employees.
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