Vacant posts cast doubt over performance of agency. PHOTO: FILE
One-fourth of the posts in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) lie vacant as the government considers a revamp of the inquiry body, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday.
More than 2,114 – about 25.5% – vacant posts in various wings of the investigation agency cast doubt over the performance of the agency that is currently dealing with dozens of high-profile cases.
According to official documents available with The Express Tribune, some 6,148 officials are working in the FIA while some 8,262 posts were sanctioned by the interior ministry. Between 2009 and 2010, the government recruited new staff to overcome the acute shortage in the FIA.
There is a shortage of 733 (26.5%) executive staff in the immigration wing of the agency. Some 2,798 posts were sanctioned in this wing whereas 2,065 officials are currently working.
Similarly, 913 (25%) posts are lying vacant in the general staff of the FIA while 2,774 officials are currently working on the 3,687 sanctioned posts.
The immigration wing of the agency, currently being run by acting Director General Ghalib Ali Bandesha, is facing a shortage of 180 ministerial staff members for which 889 posts were sanctioned.
Presently, 709 staffers are working, while 288 general posts are lying vacant in the immigration wing where 888 seats were sanctioned.
The document was prepared by Bandesha in response to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar’s directions months ago when he was working as additional DG FIA. Interestingly, Bandesha did not comment on the findings on Wednesday.
The FIA is currently facing an acute shortage of manpower at 26 of its entry/exit points, such as airports, land and sea routes, where the regulation of migrating passengers is in check.
On the directions of Chaudhry Nisar, the top administration of the FIA has repatriated 59 officers to their parent departments and removed 45 officers from key assignments as part of a new policy to revamp the probe body.
Several senior officers revealed that some of the senior most officers have been working with the FIA ‘for decades’, a practice which violates the existing rules.
“If the interior minister really wants a revamping then his ministry must observe a rotation policy,” a senior officer said on the condition of anonymity.
He quoted several examples, particularly of additional director general FIA Khalid Qureshi, who has been working at the FIA since March, 1997 in “utter violation of existing rules”.
Qureshi was posted as deputy director (BS-18) in the FIA in 1997 and promoted to BS-19 in the same year. Later, he was upgraded to BS-20 in 2006 and later BS-21 last year.
According to the rotation policy for DMG/PSP officers, each officer should serve during his span of 12 to 25 years of service (BS-19 & 20). He must do service three years in the province of first allocation; three years in the federal government and then three years each in the province of second allocation and then federal government or province of first allocation.
Former DG FIA Zaffarullah Khan said the government must make the FIA a professional force and induct talented officers for getting the desired results.
“I myself wrote seven times to then interior minister Rehman Malik to lift the ban on hiring in FIA, suggesting a revamping of FIA but received no response,” he added.
Another ex-DG FIA Malik Iqbal stressed upon revamping FIA by following rotation laws in an effort to produce better results.
“This scarcity of staff is an alarming situation in the FIA — the agency must witness some broader changes to produce better results,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ