Islamabad: Officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are extorting money from businesses in the Malakand division. These revealations were made by Senator Fida Mohammad here at the committee session of the Functional Committee of Senate on Less Developed Areas. Senator UsmanKakar was chairing the committee session. Kakar lamented the absence of State Minister for Interior Shahriyar Afridi and other high officials of the FIA from the session, and asked the additional secretary for interior, Mohammad Sadeeq, for an explanation. The additional secretary replied that the minister was busy meeting a Europe Union delegation. The additional secretary further told the committee that he was unaware of the issue and assured that an investigation would be conducted to identify officials involved in the racket. While briefing the session on Balochistan, the FIA director said human smuggling was increasing by the day, and ‘we don’t have a sufficient number of employs to curtail its growth’. He added that Balochistan is now a hub of human smugglers and traffickers from the Punjab. He said that some FIA officials were monitoring entry points in the province but it isn’t possible to deploy personnel on every entry point due to a lack of human resources in the investigation agency. “The ratio of FIRs is declining in Balochistan. In 2017, 108 cases were registered, while in 2018, 92 cases have been registered,” the FIA director said. Senator Gianchand then asked FIA officials to provide information to the general public about the last Afghan delegation to have visited Pakistan. He asked FIA should inform the general public that what were the objectives of the Afghan delegation’s visit to Pakistan. Then,Additional Secretary Mohammad Sadeeq argued that the interior ministry was not aware of the Afghan delegation’s visit to Pakistan since it fell in the domain of the Foreign Office. Senator Kakar then asked officials of the FIA about the Naqeebullah murder case prime suspect Rao Anwar. He asked why was Rao Anwar not arrested from the airport. The FIA official replied that the agency did not have a warrant to arrest Anwar. When it got information about his departure, it alerted all sectors and barred him from leaving Pakistan. However, Senator Kakar replied that the FIA had taken Anwar into custody and later shifted him to a safe location. “It’s clear that the FIA and other institution are involved in crimes.” Published in Daily Times, October 10th 2018.