ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi highlighted Pakistan’s decision to allow visa-free entry for Saudi citizens during a meeting in Islamabad, said an official statement on Sunday, reaffirming the government’s push for closer bilateral ties and increased Gulf investment in the country.
The minister’s comments came during a meeting with Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, amid Pakistan’s efforts to open its doors more widely to investors and tourists from the Gulf.
In July last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced visa-free entry for businessmen from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as part of measures to attract investment and stimulate economic activity, while Pakistan was striving to recover from a prolonged financial crisis.
“There is no visa for Saudi citizens for coming to Pakistan,” Naqvi told the Saudi envoy, according to a statement released by the interior ministry. “They can come whenever they want.”
The minister made the remarks while visiting the Saudi embassy in Islamabad, where the two officials discussed bilateral cooperation, ongoing economic and social collaboration and joint efforts to curb illicit activities such as drug trafficking and human smuggling.
Islamabad has also been worried about the trend of some Pakistani nationals abusing visas to beg in foreign countries, fearing this could impact genuine visa-seekers, particularly religious pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia.
“The noose has been tightened against the beggars’ mafia,” Naqvi said, adding that new conditions are being imposed for obtaining passports to prevent illegal immigration and curb organized begging.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy longstanding diplomatic and cultural ties. More than 2.5 million Pakistanis live and work in the Kingdom, which is the largest source of remittances for the South Asian nation.
The Saudi ambassador reaffirmed Riyadh’s commitment to strengthening relations with Islamabad across various sectors, according to the interior ministry statement.
Pakistan’s interior minister highlights visa-free entry for Saudis in push for closer ties
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Pakistan’s interior minister highlights visa-free entry for Saudis in push for closer ties
- Mohsin Naqvi met the Saudi envoy to discuss bilateral economic collaboration with the Kingdom
- Both officials also discussed efforts to curb illicit activities like drug trafficking, human smuggling
Government says Pakistan preparing Cyber Security Act as digital expansion raises risks
- The proposed legislation will create Cyber Security Authority to oversee the country's cyber defenses
- IT minister warns misuse of genetic and digital data could enable targeted cyber and biological threats
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing a Cyber Security Act and a dedicated regulatory authority to strengthen defenses against rising digital threats as the country rapidly digitizes government services and economic systems, IT Minister Shaza Fatima said while addressing a ceremony in the federal capital on Wednesday.
The planned legislation is part of Islamabad’s broader “Digital Nation Pakistan” initiative, which aims to expand e-governance, a cashless economy and online public services while safeguarding national cyber infrastructure.
“The more we move toward digitization, with the kind of opportunities that are opening up for us, it is also bringing an equal, or even greater, set of challenges,” the minister said. “This does not mean that we stop digitization. It means that we must make our cybersecurity systems robust.”
She said Pakistan had already activated its National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and provincial CERTs to detect and respond to cyber incidents, while a multi-agency digital monitoring framework known as the National Threat Intelligence System (NTIS) operates around the clock.
“We have a Cyber Security Act coming up, under which a Cyber Security Authority will be established.”
The minister said cybersecurity was not a “generic” concept and required multiple technical specializations as well as comprehensive monitoring and regulation. She warned that the rapid expansion of data-driven technologies was creating new risks even as it opened opportunities in areas such as health and biotechnology.
Referring to advances in genomics and precision medicine, she said the same technologies that help treat diseases could also pose security risks if sensitive biological data were misused. She warned that access to large-scale genetic data could potentially allow hostile actors to develop targeted viruses or other biological threats against populations.
The minister also highlighted Pakistan’s cyber defense capabilities, saying government and military systems remained secure during last year's war with India despite sustained cyber warfare attempts.
She said multiple institutions, including the IT ministry, the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), national cybersecurity teams and the armed forces’ cyber command structures, worked together to defend critical systems.
“Despite that massive war ... we did not face a single communication breakdown and we did not allow any penetration into our government systems,” she said, adding that the experience demonstrated the need to further strengthen cybersecurity coordination across institutions.
