Imran orders end to unauthorised official protocol

ISLAMABAD: Unauthorised protocol is being extended to various unentitled private persons and government functionaries by federal and provincial ministries, departments, and agencies at airports across Pakistan, an official communication reveals.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed that such protocol should be halted immediately, otherwise “the head of the concerned department or agency will be held responsible and proceeded against accordingly”.

At his behest, his secretary Muhammad Azam Khan has sent a letter, a copy of which is available with The News, to all the ministries, departments and agencies concerned, with the direction to ensure strict compliance of the prime minister’s orders.

The communication says that it has been noted with grave concern that protocol was being extended to various government functionaries and private persons who are not entitled to it at airports across Pakistan.

These services, it said, are being provided formally as well as informally by different agencies deputed at the airports. This is not only discriminatory and creates discontent among ordinary travellers but is also against the stated government policy to curb VIP culture in the country, it said.

The letter said that the prime minister has directed that all concerned ministries/ departments/ agencies of the federal and provincial governments will ensure that the practice of extending unauthorised protocol to government functionaries and other private persons is ceased at once.

Only state guests, senior government ministers and VVIPs, as intimated by the government, will be entitled to protocol at the airports, the communication said.

An official familiar with official protocol details told The News that there is no term like “VVIPs” in the rules of business. Only VIP is defined in them, he said.

He said that the letter mentions that the “senior ministers” [of the federal and provincial governments] were entitled to the protocol at airports. This restricts the number of such functionaries to just a few. However, all the cabinet members are equal as per the rules, he said, and added that the “senior government ministers” have not been defined by the letter.

In some cases, the federal and provincial governments have designated certain ministers as senior cabinet members. The letter creates confusion about who is a senior minister and who is not, the official said.

He explained that the protocol was meant only for pomp and show otherwise it doesn’t entail too many facilities. The maximum a person given protocol gets is that he, if he is coming from or going abroad, does not have to stand in a queue to get his passport stamped and is not required to wait to collect his luggage. This all is done by the protocol staff.

At different airports around the world, mostly in advanced countries, a certain fee is charged to get certain facilities. Those availing it can also have free of cost coffee and can use special lounges. The Pakistan government has not introduced any such fee.

Among other departments, the officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Airport Security Force, police, Civil Aviation Authority, Overseas Employment Foundation, Central Health Establishment, Customs, Pakistan International Airlines, immigration protectorate, police special branch and intelligence agencies are deployed at the airports. Some of them have appointed protocol officers whose only job is to receive and see off the functionaries for which the orders are issued by their bosses.

The official said that every federal and provincial minister invariably has his/ her staff present at the airport when they travel. The CAA allows entry into the airport to the “protocol” officers if they produce an authorisation letter from their ministries, he said.

In July this year, it was officially stated that Imran Khan has taken serious notice of the extraordinary protocol accorded to federal cabinet members and VIPs and ordered curtailing it to avoid public inconvenience.

An informed official said that the move came after a newly sworn-in minister of state got an elaborate protocol while visiting his hometown after his induction into the cabinet. A detailed security cover was provided to him, and vehicular traffic was stopped at signals to let his cavalcade pass, he said.

This kind of ostentatious display came to the prime minister’s notice after a video of it went viral on social media and he issued the new directive.

It was also then stated that the prime minister was concerned about the heavy security protocol of chief ministers and governors. He had also once questioned the security protocol of President Arif Alvi when the latter had arrived at the parliament building and had been received by him.

“The security and protocol of ministers must be curtailed and reassessed according to requirements,” Imran Khan was quoted as having told his cabinet colleagues.

In a tweet, he had said he was also reviewing the protocol and security available to ministers, governors and chief ministers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and will “decide how we can minimise expenditure and end public inconvenience. The federal cabinet would come up with a comprehensive policy in this regard next week. We will put an end to colonial legacy of pomp and glory used to overwhelm people.”