Pakistan opens dedicated police station to tackle complaints of expatriates on priority basis

Dubai: Good news for overseas Pakistanis as a special section has been opened for them in a new model police station to address their grievances.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ijaz Shah along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari inaugurated on Tuesday a Model Police Facilitation Center in Islamabad.

This is the first of its kind facility in the country to address complaints of overseas Pakistanis on priority basis.

Bukhari said that a special counter has been set up in the Model Police Facilitation Centre to ensure that issues of overseas Pakistanis are addressed swiftly. “Similar facilitation centers will also be established in other parts of the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab,” he added.

Land grabbing and property disputes are on the top of the list of issues facing the overseas Pakistanis.

The initiative has been taken by the ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development in collaboration with the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police to resolve the complaints.

Bukhari said the idea would be replicated later across the country after its success in Islamabad, adding that “Good governance is the cornerstone of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s manifesto which will be ensured through inclusive ways and honest leadership.”

Pakistani expatriates in the UAE have also welcomed the move. “This is a good step forward to tackle problems of Pakistanis living abroad but similar coordination counters should also be set up a the Pakistani missions abroad especially in the UAE and other Gulf countries,” said Raja Asad, a journalist based in Dubai.

Khalid Ahmed, a resident of Sharjah said that the Pakistani expatriates faced a number of issues back home mainly related to the property dispute and land grabbing. “We hope such cases would be handled efficiently,’ he added.

Bukhari underlined the need to establish a framework to strengthen coordination between judiciary, revenue department and the police to facilitate overseas Pakistanis that had been waiting for decisions on their property cases.

Property disputes

Bukhari pointed out that the overseas ministry had received maximum number of complaints regarding the property disputes of overseas Pakistanis, which was the reason why a comprehensive policy was chalked out to give them permanent relief.

“On special directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, concerted efforts are being made to extend all possible facilities to overseas Pakistanis and remove all hurdles in their way of making investment in the country,” he added.

He said the special courts have also been established to ensure disposal of cases of Pakistani expatriates within a period of one month after admittance of petitions.

Earlier, Overseas Pakistan Commission (OPC) Vice Chairman Waseem Chaudhry said that keeping in view the problems of overseas Pakistanis, the commission has decided to speed up the complaint resolution mechanism. “The commission will help in solving the problems of overseas Pakistanis related to property, police, issuance of character certificates and other petty issues. Earlier, they either had to travel back or wait for weeks or months,” he said.