Posts in category: Politics

By Shahid Aslam

February 12, 2018

LAHORE: The unfortunate incident of a boat sinking in which majority of the people out of the total 90, including over a dozen Pakistanis, died in the deep sea off the coast of Libya has left many questions unanswered regarding Pakistan’s fight against illegal human trafficking.

The loss of precious lives of Pakistanis while in search of better living is an eye opener for the authorities concerned that the ugly business of human trafficking in Pakistan is flourishing instead of being controlled.

Hardly a couple of months earlier, 20 innocent Pakistanis were murdered cold bloodedly in Turbat when they were on their way to dreamy lands of Europe, choosing the illegal land route via Iran, Turkey and Greece.

According to data from Frontex (official European Border and Coast Guard Agency), around 7,000 Pakistanis entered Europe illegally in 2017. Due to multiple issues, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the year 2017could manage to arrest only 11 out of 92 most-wanted human traffickers due to which Pakistan remained at the Tier-2 Watch List of the world ranking since again for not fully meeting the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Pakistan is facing the ranking since 2014.

The US State Department every year ranks each country according to its efforts in dealing the human trafficking issue. Though FIA, the premier body to check/ensure travel of passengers from and to Pakistan, has taken many steps to control human trafficking in the country, but because of several issues, the illegal business is still going on. Among the issues FIA faces are shortage of human resource, infrastructure, weak laws, etc.

For example, the Gujranwala division, particularly the districts of Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin, are the hub of this illegal trade of honey dreams for money means but the FIA with just over a dozen investigators can’t fight this heinous crime spread in the this large area and population. Gujranwala, Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin, are hotbed of human trafficking and the FIA only has a total sanctioned strength of 60 officers/officials there. Over 500 inquiries and 1100 FIRs are currently under investigation with the districts. Approximate annual registration of inquires are over 2,400 and over 1100 FIRs in these offices in addition to other functions and responsibilities. Similarly, FIA, without its own buildings both in Gujranwala and Gujrat, is fighting this menace from rented buildings. Surprisingly, FIA Gujrat is running its day-to-day affairs from the building of a local police station.

On the other hand, over a dozen identified dead bodies of Pakistanis in the boat sinking tragedy; six belonged to three villages in Dinga city, Gujrat, alone. Out of those six, four belonged to a single family of village Rajo Bhand only. They included Ismael, 32, his wife Azmat Bibi, 29, his son Saad, 05 and his one and half months old daughter Fatima. The other two Zabi Ullah and Kamran were residents of Khori and Noon village respectively. Rehmat, bother of deceased Ismael, was also on the boat but survived fortunately.

Talking to The News, FIA Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwar said there were certain issues the agency was facing, even then they were doing a good job to fight human trafficking. He said after having deputed a liaison officer in Oman, appointment of two more officers in Turkey and Greece had been requested to the government for handling issues of Pakistani migrants.

To a question, the FIA officer said that on the directions of Supreme Court which is hearing a suo moto of Pakistanis’ killings in boat sinking tragedy, FIA officials had met the Punjab government officials to identify land for the establishment of its offices. He said like Gujrat, more sub-circles of FIA would be established in Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot and Sargodha.

Dr Usman Anwar also said that not a single Pakistani who died in Libya tragedy travelled from the country illegally. Intending migrants leave Pakistan on legal documents and reach Dubai to go onward to Libya or Malaysia.

“Visa stickers for Libya are easily available for such aspirants from Dubai and after dodging immigration officials while showing return ticket to Pakistan, such people catch a flight by showing the visa sticker and reach Libya.” After reaching Libya, he added, they managed boat travels to reach European countries.

Moreover, the FIA officers said no proper law to control the human smuggling had been enacted as Emigration Ordinance of 1979 was being used for these crimes but it did not define human trafficking properly. “Insufficient punishments in the relevant laws such as Emigration Ordinance and other special laws related to the matter read as “Imprisonment or fine”, which favour the accused involved in this heinous crime”, the FIA officer said, adding a special law to control this crime was proposed with the help of UNODC in 2013 which was still pending with the ministry concerned.

Responding to another query, the FIA Punjab director said, “This heinous crime could only be controlled after we addressed push/ pull factors, including education, unemployment, poverty, social equity, equal justice and better earning opportunities. He also stated that awareness campaigns should also be run by the government highlighting the dangers of such illegal travels.

By Shahid Aslam

April 09, 2018

LAHORE: As Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice of the affairs of Pakistan International Airline (PIA), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) acted promptly by sending two questionnaires to the chairman of the national flag carrier, seeking response from the officials concerned on two pending high-profile cases by April 12, The News has learnt.

The FIA’s Lahore office has been probing PIA officials for over one year and a half regarding two matters —the sale of PIA’s aircraft A-310 to Germany for peanuts (Euros 47,500) and acquisition of planes on Wet Lease at exuberant rates, allegedly causing a loss of around Rs3 billion to PIA.

Sources said the FIA sent two questionnaires to PIA Chairman Irfan Elahi on Friday (April 6), asking him to serve one of them to the former PIA Director Procurement and Logistics Department Air Commodore Imran Akhtar (retd) and the other to PIA Board of Directors (BoD) to get their responses about the allegations they have been facing. The FIA had earlier, through the Ministry of Interior, served a similar questionnaire to Imran Akhtar in September 2017 but it was not responded to.

Besides PIA’s former acting chief executive officer (CEO) Hildenbrand Bernd, Imran Akhtar, the brother of former Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar (retd), is accused of the sale of plane to Germany.

Soon after the News broke that a PIA plane in flying condition has been sold to a German firm at even lower than its current Written Down Value (latest re-valued on December 31, 2015) of around $4,726,792 (Rs544.944 million at the current exchange rate) and even lower than the scrap value of around $603,416 (Rs69.69 million), the PIA Board had formed a two-member inquiry committee which found Imran Akhtar and Bernd guilty of the plane sale.

Bernd, a German national, left the country for a 15-day leave with the promise that he would return to Pakistan to face the charges against him, but he didn’t.

The PIA committee had also pointed out in its findings that though the A-310 aircraft had been handed over to the German company for Euro 47,500 (Rs6.7 million at current exchange rate), no payment was received in cash, rather it was to be settled through marketing and support expense whenever PIA designs a route to Leipzig where the aircraft is currently present. PIA does not operate any routes to Leipzig currently.

After the audit report was exclusively reported by The News, Air Cdre Imran Akhtar and his 13-men team were repatriated back to the PAF in April last year. All of them had joined PIA on deputation a couple of years back.

The FIA has asked Imran Akhtar, through the questionnaire, that in what capacity he had allowed a PIA plane for shooting in a pro-Israeli movie in Malta in 2016. The PIA had charged Euros 210,000 (Rs29.7 million) for 15 days.

The FIA has asked Imran to explain how he along with Bernd negotiated and finalized the alleged illegal deal of plane sale to Leipzig against a price of Euros 47,500 (Rs 6.7 million).

The FIA has also asked Imran Akhtar to explain as to why he sold the plane at a throw-away price when according to PIA’s own documents the Book Value of the plane was $3.5 million in January 2016. The FIA has also asked the former air commodore to explain why no amount could be received in cash and instead it was agreed upon that the amount would be settled in future engagements between PIA and Leipzig authorities regarding Karachi-Leipzig-New York route which was never in the plan of the PIA.

Similarly, the FIA has asked the PIA chairman to serve a questionnaire to PIA BoD which approved the alleged controversial deal of acquiring planes on Wet Lease from Sri Lanka for PIA’s Premier Service during their meeting on July 13, 2016.

The FIA had written twice to the PIA chairman on October 23, 2017 and November 14, 2017 to get response from the BoD through such notices but to no avail. The third notice was served on April 6, 2018.

The BoD at that time included the then PIA chairman (late) Azam Sehgal, Muhammad Arif Habib, Malik Nazir Ahmad, Atif Aslam Bajwa, Syed Yawar Ali, Aslam Khaliq, Yousaf Waqar, Ghayas ud Din, Muhammad Irfan Elahi, Secretary Aviation Division (ex-officio member) and Dr Waqar Masood Khan, Secretary Finance (ex-officio member).

During its initial probe into the Wet Lease issue, the FIA has calculated a loss of around Rs3 billion to the PIA. Through the questionnaire, the FIA has asked the BoD members to explain why they went ahead with the deal when it had been pointed out that the national flag carrier could suffer a huge financial loss on direct operating cost per aircraft per three months. Due to this deal, the PIA had to suffer a loss of Rs 1.57 billion on an aircraft over a period of three months. A loss of an almost equal amount was suffered when the BoD approved the deal for another term of three months.

Talking to The News on Saturday, Federal Secretary Aviation Division and PIA Chairman Irfan Elahi said that as soon he received letter from the FIA he would surely forward it to the BoD for their response.

To a question, Mr Irfan said that as far as his knowledge was concerned, the retired air commodore Imran Akhtar did respond to a PIA show-cause notice about the plane sale issue. “I don’t know whether Imran has responded to FIA or not on the same matter but definitely I will forward him the questionnaire of FIA for his response to the allegations”, the chairman PIA said.

To a question, the chairman made it clear that the PIA management could only take departmental actions against the accused officials, if any, while it is for the FIA to act if criminal charges are proved against any of them.

Talking to The News, FIA Director General Bashir Ahmed Memon confirmed that there are certain ‘procedural delays’ in the investigation against the PIA officials in question. To a question, the DG claimed that there was no pressure whatsoever on FIA while probing the brother of former spymaster, saying, “Probe against Imran Akhtar took a while as we have to write through different offices to reach him being a PAF official.”

Now he is a retired personnel and FIA would reach him soon for his response, Mr Memon said, adding if the accused avoids responding to FIA then law will take its own course. Talking to The News on Saturday Imran Akhtar claimed that FIA never approached him as yet to get his response. To a question, he claimed that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has investigated the issue and he submitted his response to them. When asked would he respond to the FIA queries, the retired air commodore remarked, “I’m not answerable to the entire country.”

By Shahid Aslam

May 01, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA) has not approved any hospital located in South Punjab to conduct transplants, forcing the ailing patients of those areas to travel hundreds of kilometres to reach other districts of the province for treatment, The News has learnt. According to documents, available with The News, at least 65 patients belonging to various districts of South Punjab including Bhakhar (1), Bahawalnagar (5), Bahawalpur (8), Dera Ghazi Khan (11), Khanewal (5), Multan (9), Muzzaffargarh (6), Rahim Yar Khan (4), Rajanpur (8) and Vehari (8) underwent transplantation procedures in various categories including renal, liver, bone marrow, cardiac, corneal, etc during the last one year or so at Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi or any other nearby approved facility.

After adopting the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (HOTA) 2010, the Punjab government established the PHOTA in 2013. The funding for the authority could only be earmarked a couple of years back after the government appointed Prof Dr Faisal Masood as its director general. Punjab Health Minister Kh Salman Rafique is chairman of the Authority with the SecretaryHealth as its secretary.

According to documents, out of 23 registered hospitals for transplants (8 public and 15 private) 17 are located in Lahore, three located in Rawalpindi and one each in Multan, Gujranwala and Faisalabad.

Similarly, out of the 16 hospitals (4 public and 12 private) whose registration is under process with PHOTA, nine are located in Lahore, five in Rawalpindi and one each in Bahawalpur and Chiniot.

The registered government hospitals include Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Lahore General Hospital (Renal), College of Ophthalmology & Allied Sciences Mayo Hospital, Lahore (Corneal), Children Hospital, Lahore (Bone Marrow), Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Institute of Cardiology, Multan (Cardiac) and DHQ Hospital, Gujranwala (Renal).

The private registered hospitals include Jinnah Memorial Hospital, Rawalpindi (Renal), Bahria Town Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Surgimed Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Ihsan Mumtaz Hospital, Lahore (Renal), National Hospital & Medical Centre, Lahore (Renal & Bone Marrow), Sharif Medical City Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Bilal Hospital, Rawalpindi (Renal), Doctor Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Bahria International Orchard, Lahore (Liver), Punjab Medical College, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad (Renal & Corneal) and Shoukat Khanam Hospital, Lahore (Bone Marrow). Similarly, the re-registration of three government hospitals including Mayo Hospital Lahore (Renal), Services Institute of Medical Sciences (Renal) and Sheikh Zayed Hospital Lahore (Liver) is pending with PHOTA. Similarly, re-registration of three private hospitals including Akram Medical Complex Lahore (Renal), Doctors Hospital, Lahore (Liver) and Al-Syed Hospital Rawalpindi (Renal) is still pending and the process of respective transplants has been halted.

On the other hand, registration of four hospitals including Jinnah Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Pakistan Kidney & Liver Institute & Research Center (PKLIRC), Lahore (Liver, Renal & Pancreas), Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi (Renal) and Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur (Renal) is under process. Similarly, registration of 12 private hospitals including Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent Trust (LRBT), Lahore (Corneal), Al-Shifa Trust, Rawalpindi (Corneal), Aadil Hospital, Lahore (Renal and Corneal), Al-Ahsan Welfare Trust, Lahore (Corneal), Lahore Medicare Institute of Clinical Ophthalmology, Lahore (Corneal), Amanat Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi (Corneal), Hameed Latif Hospital, Lahore (Renal), Al-Sadiq Saad Shaheed Hospital, Rawalpindi (Renal), National Eye Hospital, Lahore (Corneal), Al-Syed Hospital, Rawalpindi (Liver, Corneal and Stem Cell), Ramzan Ali Syed Hospital, Lahore (Renal) and Noor Eye Donor Association, Chiniot (Corneal) is also under process.

Since the formation of the Authority, around 50 transplant surgeons have conducted over 900 transplants in the entire province so far. Sources further told The News that the Punjab government and health department could not make functional the lone approved cardiac transplant facility — Ch. Parvaiz Elahi Institute of Cardiology (CPEIC) in Multan for the last three years.

Established and equipped as per international standards, according to an official source in health department, the CPEIC Multan is the only place in the country where the cardiac transplants could be performed, but due to reasons best known to the government and its subordinate departments, not a single patient could be treated since its registration with the PHOTA, with a panel of doctors some three years back. He further said an amount ranging from Rs15 million to Rs20 is required to perform each cardiac transplant in CPEIC Multan.

Had the CPEIC Multan been made functional, the source added, Pakistanis willing to travel to neighbouring countries like India for heart transplants could have avoided their sufferings.

Talking to The News on Monday, Deputy Director Vigilance PHOTA Adnan Ahmed Bhatti confirmed that there was not a single health facility in South Punjab registered where transplants could be conducted.

“We are a very open forum and any hospital whether private or public can be registered with us but,” the DD said, “they (hospitals) have to meet certain conditions to get the registration.” He further said the authority was going to establish its regional offices in Multan and Rawalpindi in the coming months to facilitate people of those areas.

To a question, the official conceded to the fact that in the absence of any such facility in South Punjab patients have to suffer a lot to travel to Lahore, Faisalabad or Rawalpindi for treatment. Despite several efforts and assurance by the spokesman of the Punjab Government Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan during the last one week, the government’s version could not be obtained.

Similarly, several attempts were made over the past one week to get response from Punjab Health Minister Kh Salman Rafique and Secretary Specialized Healthcare Punjab Najam Ahmed Shah but they too didn’t respond.

By Shahid Aslam

May 10, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Following orders of the Supreme Court, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has started a massive probe across the country to scrutinise accounts of all the 100 private medical colleges registered with the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) for bringing uniformity in fee structure, The News has learnt.

Sources in the FIA told this correspondent that SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had ordered formation of an FIA committee led by FIA Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwar with directions to investigate all the registered private medical colleges of the country regarding their fee. The committee has also been tasked to ensure excessive amount, if charged from students by these colleges, be returned to the affected students, they added. The SC has also set a bench mark of Rs 850,000 as admission/enrollment fee of each student of the first year in any private medical and dental college of the country. The apex court has given one month to the FIA committee to complete the task and submit a report in this regard.

Following the directions of the apex court, various FIA teams have been formed which started their work as per the PMDC list of private medical colleges, available with The News. Among 100 colleges, 44 are located in Punjab, 27 in Sindh, 16 in KPK, 12 in the federal capital Islamabad and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Names of the colleges FIA teams would investigate include Akhtar Saeed Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Amna Inayat Medical College, Lahore, Avicenna Medical College, Lahore, Azra Naheed Medical College, Lahore, Central Parks Medical College, Lahore, Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Medical College, Lahore, Continental Medical College, Lahore, Dental College, Akhtar Saeed Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Dental College, FMH College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore, Dental College, Lahore Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Dental College, Sharif Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Dental College, University College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore, FMH College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore, Institute of Dentistry CMH Lahore Medical College, Lahore, Lahore Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Pak Red Crescent Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Rahbar Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Rashid Latif Medical College, Lahore, Shalamar Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Sharif Medical & Dental College, Lahore, University College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore, Faryal Dental College, Sheikhupura, Bakhtawar Amin Medical & Dental College, Multan, CMH Multan Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS), Multan, College of Dentistry, Bakhtawar Amin Medical & Dental College, Multan, Multan Medical & Dental College, Multan, Multan Medical & Dental College, Multan, Shahida Islam Medical College, Lodhran, Islam Dental College, Sialkot, Islam Medical College, Sialkot, Sialkot Medical College, Sialkot, M Islam Medical College, Sialkot, Sahar Medical College, Narowal, Hashmat Medical & Dental College, Gujrat, Aziz Fatimah Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, Dental College, University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, Independent Medical College, Faisalabad, University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, Rai Medical College, Sargodha, Al-Nafees Medical College, Islamabad, Dental College, Islamabad Medical & Dental College, Islamabad, Dental College, Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad, Fazaia Medical College, Islamabad, Foundation University College of Dentistry, Islamabad, Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad, HBS Medical & Dental College, Islamabad, Islamabad Medical & Dental College, Islamabad, Islamic International Dental College, Islamabad, Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, Yusra Medical & Dental College, Islamabad, Islamic International Medical College, Rawalpindi, Margalla College of Dentistry, Rawalpindi, Watim Medical College, Rawalpindi, Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt, HITECH Institute of Medical Sciences, Texila, Mohi Uddin Islamic Medical College, Mirpur, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Abbottabad International Medical College, Abbottabad, Abbottabad International medical College, Abbottabad, Frontier Medical College, Abbottabad, Women Medical College, Abbottabad, Frontier Medical College, Abbottabad, Women Medical College, Abbottabad, Al-Razi Medical College, Peshawar, Jinnah Medical College, Peshawar, Kabir Medical College, Peshawar, Northwest School of Medicine, Peshawar, Pak International Medical College, Peshawar, Peshawar Dental College, Peshawar, Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar, Rehman College of Dentistry, Peshawar, Sardar Begum Dental College, Peshawar, Agha Khan University Medical College, Karachi, Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Karachi, Al-Tibri Medical College, Karachi, Bahria University Medical College, Karachi, Baqai Dental College, Karachi, Baqai Medical College, Karachi, Dental College, Bahria University Medical & Dental College, Karachi, Dental College, Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences for Girls, Karachi, Hamdard College of Medicine & Dentistry, Karachi, Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Karachi, Liaqat College of Medicine & Dentistry, Karachi, Fatima Jinnah Dental College, Karachi, Hamdard College of Medicine & Dentistry, Karachi, Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Karachi, Karachi Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Karachi, Liaqat College of Medicine & Dentistry, Karachi, Liaqat National Medical College, Karachi, Muhammad Bin Qasim Medical & Dental College, Karachi, Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences for Girls, Karachi, United Medical & Dental College, Karachi, Ziauddin Medical College, Karachi, Ziauddin Dental College, Karachi, Bhittai Dental & Medical College, Mirpur Khas, Muhammad Medical College, Mirpur Khas, Indus Medical College, Tando Muhammad Khan, Faculty of Medicine & Allied Medical Sciences/Isra University, Hyderabad and Isra Dental College, Hyderabad.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken a suo-motu notice regarding excessive charges in fee by private medical and dental colleges after he paid a surprise visit to Red Crescent Medical College, Phool Nagar, Kasur district, a couple of months back. The college administration, following the SC orders, had to return around Rs 270 million to its students it had charged excessive in fee.