Pak embassy officials in KSA: NA panel seeks inquiry report into extortion allegations

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly's Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) Monday asked the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) to present before the NA panel a report into an inquiry launched by Prime Minister's Inspection Commission (PMIC) into allegations that some officials of Pakistan Embassy in Saudi Arabia were extorting money from labourers.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Sheikh Fayyaz-ud-Din from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N).

In the meeting, the committee took up the agenda item regarding the allegations against Pakistan Embassy officials in Saudi Arabia - regarding receiving extortion from Pakistani labourers. The NA panel asked the OP&HRD Ministry to provide the report of fact-finding committee which was constituted by the PMIC on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"The allegations that Pakistan's Embassy staff in Saudi Arabia was extorting money from our labourers are very serious. If proved, they would be a source of huge embarrassment for Pakistan, globally. There should be no mercy for those who were depriving our labourers of their hard-earned money. They should be handed exemplary punishments if allegations against them are proved," the committee chairman remarked.

The NA panel constituted a three-member sub-committee comprising of Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as its convener, and PML-N's Javed Hassnain and from the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Zulfiqar Ali Khan Dullah as its members "to look into the matter regarding an accident by one Tariq Aziz, a Pakistani citizen in Saudi Arabia."

The committee recommended that a mercy petition be presented to Saudi authorities by the Pakistan's envoy in Saudi Arabia in favour of Tariq Aziz and a summary be moved to the PM for the payment of Diyat (blood money), on behalf of Tariq Aziz, to the grieved family, on humanitarian grounds.

Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Syed Javed Hasnain, Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali Khan Dullah, Atta Ullah, Muhammad Jamal-ud-Din, Syed Abrar Ali Shah, Sobia Kamal Khan, Khalid Ahmed Khan Lund, Uzma Riaz and senior officers from the OP&HRD Ministry attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021