Islamabad March 26 (TNS): Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday assured the Supreme Court that the fee related to the identity cards of expatriates will be taken up at the cabinet level and a compliance report will be submitted to the court in two weeks.
When the SC bench headed by Chief Justice Justice Saqib Nisar took up the case pertaining to charging an extra fee on the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis, the interior ministry said that the fee being charged from expatriate Pakistanis will be subsidized and a waiver will be offered as being given to locals.
Iqbal, however, explained that since overseas Pakistanis earn more and they were being charged accordingly.
The bench said that the overseas Pakistanis should also get the voting rights. The chief justice said that overseas Pakistanis play a vital role e in sending remittances and booting country’s economy.
The interior minister also informed the bench that apex court stays and suo moto cases were hampering the executive in executing its function and he narrated that a court stay has halted work on a college building in his hometown Narowal. To this, the chief justice told him to apprise him of the issue in writing and he will adjudicate the matter.
The chief justice also said that it should not be misconstrued that court were opponents of the government.
The case was adjourned for two weeks.
