ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PMIC) Ahmed Yar Hiraj has constituted a four-member team to inquire into failure of some officers and staff at Pakistan’s Embassy in Saudi Arabia to provide various services to the overseas Pakistanis.

The team, headed by PMIC member Syed Akif and including senior officers from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Overseas Pakistanis, was constituted after Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the complaints of diaspora in Saudi Arabia.

According to a PMIC press release, the team among other issues will hold an inquiry into the following issues: inefficiency in provision of various services to overseas Pakistanis; extorting and fleecing expatriate workers and overseas Pakistanis, causing delays on one pretext or the other, resulting in extraction under duress; examination of existing complaint resolution mechanism, and failure to resolve problems of the Pakistani community; examination of standard operating procedures in place to provide services and as to whether the SOPs provided relief or resulted in impediments in service delivery; and recommendations to improve the provision of services to the overseas Pakistanis and expatriate workers based in Saudi Arabia.

The PMIC has invited all overseas Pakistanis, especially those in Saudi Arabia, who have any information about the issues, to contact Iftikhar Ahmed, Deputy Director, PMIC, PMO, Islamabad, by May 5 through regular mail or WhatsApp calls and messages at +923202546382 and email: complaints.ops@gmail.com.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2021