ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Khursheed Shah on Monday sought an explanation over the theft of the purse of a Kuwaiti diplomat by a grade-20 officer, stating that the suspension of the officer is not enough.
He made the statements during his speech on the floor of the National Assembly
“In a meeting the bag or purse of a member of the Kuwaiti delegation disappeared. Yesterday it was revealed that a grade-20 officer had taken this purse which was shown on CCTV video. This is, unfortunately, the first incident in Pakistan’s 70-year history of a delegate’s bag being stolen,” he said.
On Sunday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced that the officer has been suspended.
According to Chaudhry, Zarrar Haider Khan, a BS-20 officer who is the joint secretary of the Ministry of Industries and Production, was accused of stealing the purse of a Kuwaiti diplomat who was part of a delegation visiting Pakistan.
“The government has suspended Zarrar Haider” on disciplinary grounds, the minister said, adding: “An investigation has been launched” into the officer suspected of theft.
The move was confirmed through a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat.
The officer’s action caused a lot of embarrassment throughout the country after it was identified through a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage that went viral on social media.
According to a local media outlet, Haider first refused to have knowledge of the incident when authorities first questioned him about it. He, however, produced the stolen purse after he was shown the CCTV video.