Federal Cabinet approves online visa system for 126 countries

Islamabad: The Federal Cabinet has approved the enforcement of an online visa application system under which citizens of 126 countries can get business and tourist visas within 24 hours.

The cabinet, which met in Islamabad with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, also allowed that citizens of these 126 countries will be exempted from visa fees.

Furthermore, a sub-category of visa on arrival was assented to facilitate Sikh yatrees, having passports of a third country. In this connection, a dashboard will be established at the Ministry of Interior to monitor the online visa system.

The cabinet allowed notifying special and banking courts in various cities of the country. These special and banking courts will function under the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Besides, it approved signing Memoranda of Understanding to promote cooperation between Pakistan and Denmark in the fields of logistics, transport, green and sustainable growth, water waste management, urban green development, renewable energy and construction of basis infrastructure under private-public partnership.

The Prime Minister and the cabinet also strongly condemned the attack on the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, and the desecration of the national flag.

The cabinet, on the occasion, also passed a resolution, condemning Israel, supporting Palestinians, and demanding a trial against Israel for committing war crimes.

The resolution on Palestine highlighted that over thirty nine thousands innocent people have been martyred since October 7, 2023, due to Israel's brutal actions.

It further noted that no one including civilian population, hospitals, and schools, the offices of United Nations and media workers are safe from the indiscriminate shelling by Israeli forces. Palestinian territories have become graveyards and piles of rubble.

The forum urged international community and international organizations to take all possible measures including imposition of sanctions against Israel.

It warned that if Israel is not prevented from doing barbarism in Gaza, this fire will disturb the peace of the entire world.

It further highlighted that the International Court of Justice has already declared Israel's actions in Palestinian territories as illegal and violation of international law and also ruled to compensate the Palestinians for their losses.

The forum also stressed a need to initiate unified strategy for the Islamic world to effectively deal with this issue.

The Federal Cabinet appreciated Shanghai Cooperation Organization's stance on the Palestine issue and called on international community to take action against the heinous war crimes by Israel in Gaza.

The cabinet reiterated Pakistan's commitment to continue supporting the people of Palestine and the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir till the resolution of these issues as per international law.

The forum reaffirmed Pakistan's long standing perspective of resolving this issue on a two-state solution based on the establishment of a Palestinian state with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital with pre-1967 borders.