ISLAMABAD: In glaring violation of Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid’s directives, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGIP) has allegedly followed ‘pick and choose’ policy in reshuffling the officials appointed in Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in different parts of the world with nearly two dozen officials still posted in foreign countries despite exceeding the official three-year stay limit.
Earlier this month, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid had ordered that those officials of DGIP whose official stay in foreign countries exceeded three years be called back forthwith.
These officials were serving in Machine Readable Passport (MRP) section in Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in different parts of the world.
Documents exclusively available with The News Today reveal that corresponding to the Interior Minister’s directives, DGIP on February 19, 2021, through notification number 52/MRP/HR/Corr/FM, transferred 24 officials back home.
These officials were serving in Basic Scale (BS) 11 up to 18 of the ranks; Data Entry Operator, Superintendent, Deputy Assistant Directors, Assistant Director, System Incharge, System Administrator, Technical Officer, Hardware Specialist and Hardware Engineer.
These officials were reshuffled on the grounds that they spent more than three years posted in Pakistan’s diplomatic missions abroad.
However, in what clearly amounts to pick and choose policy, some 21 officials of DGIP are still serving in different parts of the world.
Sources in DGIP said these officials are either closely connected to high-ups of the department or to influential politicians which is the reason that they have not been posted back to Pakistan despite that some of them have been serving on foreign assignments for over 13 years in clear violation of the Interior Minister’s directives regarding three-year limit.
The officials who are still posted abroad despite exceeding the three-year limit are: Siddiq Akbar, Network Engineer, posted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, since December 2013; Zahid Naeem, Hardware Engineer, posted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, since August 2015; Irfan Hafeez, Hardware Engineer, posted in Abu Dhabi, since March 2014; Haroon Jamil, System Administrator, posted in Birmingham, United Kingdom, since January 2016; Fazal Mahmood, Network Engineer, posted in Frankfurt, Germany, since August 2015, Muhammad Arshad, Printing Staff, posted in Rome, Italy, since January 2008; Mohtashim Mohiyuddin, System Incharge, posted in Ottawa, Canada, since December 2015; Muhammad Amin, Hardware Engineer, posted in Montreal, Canada, since April 2016; Jawad Zia, Technical Officer, posted in New York, United States, since September 2016; Salman Akbar, Hardware Engineer, posted in Houston, US, since July 2015; Zeeshan Ullah Khan, System Incharge, posted in Canberra, Australia, since December 2015; Abdul Rasheed, Network Engineer, posted in Beijing, China, since December 2015; Tahir Mahmood, Hardware Engineer, posted in Hong Kong, since December 2015; Zukhruf Azam, Hardware Engineer, posted in Hague, Netherlands, since June 2014; Muhammad Imran, Network Engineer, posted in Stockholm, Sweden, since July 2015; Noman Shahzad Mir, Network Engineer, posted in Tokyo, Japan, since December 2015; Baqir Raza, Hardware Engineer, posted in Seoul, South Korea, since December 2015; Tariq Gardezi, System Incharge, posted in Singapore, since January 2016; Shakeel Saeed, Printing System Incharge, posted in Lisbon, Portugal, since December 2015; Muhammad Kamran, Hardware Engineer, posted in Brussels, Belgium, since January 2016 and Farhan Shahzad, posted in Darussalam, Tanzania.
“It is highly unfair that on one hand, those officers who are competent but have no political or government connections are transferred but on the other hand influential officials who have the blessings of the mighty are still enjoying perks and privileges while being posted abroad making mockery of three-year stay limit.
Either this limit should be removed or it should be applied on all indiscriminately.
The dual standards need to be put to an end,” sources told The News Today.
The News Today tried to contact Interior Minister and DGIP for their comments on the matter but their version was not received till the filing of this report.
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