Three govt officials arrested for helping Afghans get CNIC

The arrested bureaucrats were members of NADRA committee that verifies documents of people seeking NICs

QUETTA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested assistant commissioners of Chaman and Killa Abdullah and an ex-additional deputy commissioner for helping Afghan nationals get Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) by verifying their documents.

In a late night operation, FIA officials picked up Assistant Commissioner (AC) Chaman Hafiz Muhammad Qasim, AC Killa Abdullah Ejaz Jaffar and ex-additional DC Hasratullah Changezi from their homes.

Keeping in view the strong links of the arrested government officials, FIA sleuths, wasting no time, rushed them to Quetta overnight, an official of the agency said confirming the raid.

All three officials were posted in districts that border with Afghanistan and have a huge population of Afghan people, the official said requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

The arrested bureaucrats were members of National Database and Registration Authority’s (NADRA) committee that verifies documents of people seeking national identity cards, he said.

“The trio was involved in corrupt practices and issued clearance certificate to foreigners particularly Afghan refugees against huge bribes,” the official said.

The corrupt officials were so well entrenched in the administration that although Changezi had retired a month ago, he was still involved in issuing clearance certificate to the Afghan citizens, he said.

The FIA officials presented the accused public servants before a magistrate in the sessions court on Wednesday morning seeking custody for interrogation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2016.