Govt plans to establish FIA Multan zone

LAHORE
The federal government is considering creating a new zone for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in South Punjab soon to tackle pendency, territorial and jurisdiction issues the agency has been facing in Punjab for years, The News has learnt.
Government officials, wished not to be named, told The News that FIA’s request regarding creating new zone named as Southern Punjab Zone, Multan, was submitted to the interior ministry which after scrutinising forwarded the same to the finance ministry for its further considerations.
The proposal worth Rs 350 million is being vetted at the finance ministry and after which the prime minister would finally approve the new zone, they maintained. The proposed new zone would also have three circles at Divisional Headquarters including Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Sahiwal.
The new zone, they opined, would help a great deal in addressing issued faced by the FIA particularly the pendency of enquires and cases.
The idea of creating new zone for FIA was floated by Director General, FIA, with Federal Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan in October 2014 when the former had visited the agency’s headquarters in Islamabad.
The FIA has already five zones each in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad.
The need of Multan Zone emerged when the working of FIA Punjab Zone Lahore became difficult due to a large territory it has to deal with. FIA Punjab Zone, Lahore comprises over eight divisions of Punjab and its circles offices are located at Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala.
According to an official data, within last five years (2009-14), 27414 enquiries and 13495 cases of different nature including human trafficking, anti-corruption, spurious drugs, IPR violations, Hundi/Hawala, banking and theft of electricity and gas were registered in Lahore Zone alone.
Among those 6300 enquiries and 1700 cases were registered only with Multan Circle where 3,320 enquires and 1,181 cases are still pending mainly because shortage of staff and other facilities.
Similarly, among the total crimes registered in Punjab Zone during the last five years, Multan Circle, which covers an area of 105504 square km, almost 57 per cent of the Punjab Zone, contributed over 17 per cent of the total registered crimes.
“Over the years, human trafficking has increased tremendously in South Punjab and it was in the public interest that FIA Multan Circle to be raised to the level of an independent zone headed by a Director as “Director FIA Southern Punjab Zone, Multan”, the FIA’s proposal reads.
According to the proposal, FIA authorities cited three major reasons behind the pendency issue including (I) a vast range of jurisdiction of proposed Director FIA Southern Punjab Zone, Multan, comprising of 4 divisions and 13 districts, (II) Vast expanse of geographical territory, the sprawl of FIA crimes, establishment of four international airports (Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur & DG Khan) and the administrative constraints faced by Director Punjab based in Lahore to supervise the working and (III) Lahore is situated 338-km away from Multan and 500 away from Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad & DG Khan etc which is very far flung area and difficult to approach.
“Due to this reason, the enquiry officers of the area are facing tremendous difficulties to record statements of witnesses, collection of evidence and arrest of accused POs/CAs which are a major cause of pending case and enquiries since long”, the proposal reads.
The creation of Southern Punjab Zone and three circles will also require additional strength, both executive and ministerial to run the FIA’s affairs.
As Rs 353 million needed for raising the new zone, the proposal also suggested authorities concerned that circles may be created in phases to meet financial issues if there are any.
As there are around 190 posts already sanctioned for Multan Circle, the FIA authorities have proposed some 720 more posts for executive and ministerial posts to run the affairs of Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Sahiwal Circles falling in the proposed zone. They have also demanded another 50 posts for Immigration purposes as well.
Among the prominent proposed posts included Director (BS-20) one post, Deputy Director (BS-18) 07 posts (02 are already sanctioned), Deputy Director/Law (BS-18) one post, Assistant Director Investigation (BS-17) 12 posts, AD/Legal (BS-17) 08 posts and 30 posts of Inspector Investigation (BS-16), etc.
A senior FIA official, based in Islamabad, confirmed the developments saying, if approved, the new zone would be very beneficial for FIA. He said since Ch Nisar took over the charge as Interior Minister, under which FIA falls, a lot of positive development is taking place vis-à-vis overall working and performance of the federal agency.
FIA DG Akbar Khan Hoti was not available for comments. Similarly, spokesman of Ministry of Interior was also approached on Tuesday but he didn’t respond to calls and text message made at his cellphone.