News
Sunday, July 07, 2013
FIA to be given more powers against corrupt officers: Nisar* Interior minister tells agency to establish anti-money laundering units
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said that the rules of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would be revamped to give the agency more powers against corrupt officers.
The minister chaired separate meetings to review the performance and functioning of the FIA and NADRA. In one of the meetings, Nisar issued directives to the FIA for establishing anti-money laundering units in all parts of the country to check money laundering and hundi. He said the government wanted to revamp the FIA by removing all controversial officials and bringing in those with integrity and clean track record. He said an effective system of reward and punishment would be put in place to boost the morale of law enforcement personnel. The FIA informed the minister that the agency had 52 police stations across the country but due to shortage of staff only 36 of the stations were functional.
The minister said that a procedure should be adopted to ensure merit-based selection and induction procedure to ensure better functioning of the FIA. A committee would soon be constituted for this purpose.
He said that in the matters of transfers and postings within the Ministry of Interior and its attached departments, no political interference would be tolerated.
Regarding the hiring of special public prosecutors, the minister observed that their services should be hired in a completely transparent manner and payments made to them should commensurate with their qualification.
The FIA DG briefed the minister on the performance of the agency and informed him that the authority had five zones within the country – four in provinces and one in the federal capital. He said that FIA had 52 police stations all over the country, but due to shortage of staff, only 36 were functioning. The minister stressed the need for making FIA a body in which people had trust and confidence, and said that all complainants should be treated with respect by FIA officials.
Separately, NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik briefed the minister on the working of his organisation. He informed the minister that NADRA had completed biometric registration of 96 percent of adult men and 86 percent of women in Pakistan.
The minister asked the chairman to take steps to prepare a system of electronic voting by the next general election.
The NADRA chairman informed the minister that the authority was also helping various other departments, like Zakat and Baitul Maal. He said that work on geographical information system had recently been started in Islamabad, and data was being collected at a rapid pace.
He said that on the directives of the minister, work had also been started on introducing e-tag system at the five selected entry and exit points of Islamabad. The minister directed the official to speed up the installation of the system. He was informed that NADRA had started the registration of domestic servants in Islamabad, and so far 5,000 people had been registered during a weeklong door-to-door campaign.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk