ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to restructure the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) ahead of upcoming general elections.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) -lead government has planned to give jobs to 3,850 persons, including 209 officers. The FIA’s restructuring plan had now been forwarded to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for final approval on the advice of Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal.
According to a copy of the plan’s summary, new directorates would be established in Gilgit, Multan and Hyderabad, while three director generals (DGs) of grade-21, around 11 directors of grade-20, around 26 additional directors of grade-19, around 37 deputy directors (Investigation) of grade-18, five deputy directors (Legal) of grade-18, and 127 assistant directors (Investigation) of grade-17 would be employed under the new restructuring plan.
If approved, a summary for the creation of 3,850 new posts inside FIA costing Rs 2.370 billion may be moved to the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan for approval please.
Documents also revealed that FIA was facing a shortage of funds, due to which junior officers were deployed at the counters of international entry and exit immigration points at the airports, as well as land routes. Currently, the lowest ranking officials (constables) were deployed as “counter officials’, even though they have the least training, motivation and education, thus making it difficult for them to interact with foreign visitors. Due to this, the immigration counters depict a very negative image of Pakistan.
Hence, it was essential to establish modern immigration booths and deploy officials of the rank of assistant sub-inspector (ASI) as counter handlers. Furthermore, the immigration shifts should be supervised by an officer of the rank of assistant director, the documents read.
