Government office of the women’s complaint cell landline had been cut long time ago, and she was using her cell phone to keep in touch says the center's head Baloch.
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has directed the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) secretariat to establish a public complaint resolution mechanism and appoint a focal person to address the citizens’ grievances against public department maladministration.
The Ministry of States and Frontier Regions has written a letter — a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune — to the Fata additional chief secretary and the Afghan refugee chief commissioner requesting them to establish a public complaint cell.
The letter also asked for the initiation of a public awareness campaign at every level immediately and for the submission of a monthly implementation report to the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman’s) Secretariat (WMS) by the 25th of every month.
This move came soon after the WMS took a free of cost initiative to ensure swift justice for the public. Under the initiative, most federal ministries, divisions and attached departments have established public complaint resolution mechanisms.
Register complaints: Human rights cell set up at ombudsman secretariat
Grievance Commissioner Hafiz Ahsan Ahmad Khokhar and Senior Advisor Law/Registrar, Federal Ombudsman Islamabad, said that such a platform will be provided to the people of Fata for the first time.
“It is an established fact that the people of Fata are facing many issues but are unable to voice their concerns, owing to the lack of available platforms,” he said.
He elaborated that if for any reason they are unable to handle the issue within 15 days, the case would be transferred to WMS and they will address it.
Khokhar said that WMS will send a team to the Fata secretariat every month while also monitoring the complaint cell’s performance online to ensure that all issues are dealt with as soon as possible.
He concluded by reiterating that this will be the first time people from Fata will be able to complain at a federal level and saying that they have the right to complain about their problems just like any other citizen of the country.
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