100 days report: Interior Ministry emerges as ‘most efficient’ one

–Minister Shehryar Afridi gets done with PM-given tasks, plans 44 new initiatives of his own

–Initiatives include public-friendly offices, de-weaponisation drive, overhaul in police, FIA, safe city project

ISLAMABAD: With the first 100 days of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government completing, the Ministry of Interior, under Shehryar Khan Afridi, has emerged as the most efficient one, Pakistan Today has learnt.

As per the details, the Interior Ministry has secured the lead owing to the fact that the minister, besides completing tasks given by Prime Minister Imran Khan, has also taken on his own 44 initiatives to make the interior division and all its subordinate departments public-friendly.

According to the details of the reforms carried out within the past 100 days, the ministry, which once used to be an isolated body, has now opened its doors to the public and people may visit the minister or his staff without any prior notice or seeking an appointment.

“Ministry of Interior (MOI) had to deliver on [the] 100-day agenda and routine workflow of a heavy ministry while having to deal with major law and order challenges. Besides MOI, it was only Ministry of Finance that worked under a crisis situation. On top of that, MOI also undertook initiatives to transform the domain it operates in,” reads the preamble of the performance report submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The prime minister had tasked Afridi to assess the need of a National Security Organisation (NSO), assess the implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) and work towards the provision of clean drinking water to the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), an official of the ministry told Pakistan Today.

“But the minister also handled major events and crisis situation, including the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) march to Islamabad; peaceful handling of Ashura, Chehlum and the Zaireen crisis at the Taftan border; managed the situation in wake of TLP sit-in against the Aasia Bibi case verdict, SP Tahir Dawar issue and the terrorist attacks in Karachi and Hangu,” the official said.

In order to bring real change, the minister also conducted surprise raids at police stations, NADRA offices, passport offices, immigration at airports and FIA to name a few in a bid to understand the nature of problems faced by the public, they said.

Apart from routine policy decisions of the Interior Ministry, the minister also conducted scoping of new initiatives based on an on-ground feedback.

“A major policy decision was to ban 18 International NGOs that had been violating laws for ulterior motives. Despite the fact that ten ambassadors/diplomats from various countries, including US, EU and Japan held separate meetings to get the decision reversed, the minister refused to budge,” the official said.

They also spoke of the Prisoners Exchange Treaties with China, UK and KSA and said it would allow all convicted Pakistanis to complete their sentences in Pakistan.

“The decision is in line with PM Imran Khan’s promise that Pakistan will cater to the respect of every citizen and no would be left in foreign jails like Dr Aafia Siddiqui who would also be brought back once the treaty is signed with the US,” the official said.

Another major decision taken was to de-weaponise the country and under the new policy, all licenses would be revoked and none for prohibited bore weapons would be issued.

“The minister had to face severe resistance from federal cabinet members; however, the premier supported Afridi and the cabinet approved the de-weaponisation policy along with a detailed plan,” the official added.

A complaint cell has also been established at the ministry to keep a check on corruption and delays in complaint redressal. The system will start functioning as soon as whistleblowing mechanism is approved by the cabinet.

“A call centre has also been established at the Interior Ministry and six landline numbers have been installed to facilitate general public. Landline numbers are being publicised through the website,” the official said.

Moreover, an Internal Accountability Unit (IAU) had been established at police headquarters to deal with corruption complaints while the police officials have been given timelines for decision making and implementation.

A Gender and Child Protection Unit has been established at women police stations while a new helpline 8090 has been activated. One lady doctor, two lady psychologists and a female lawyer have been hired to assist victims of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

177 cases of narcotics have also been registered within the past 24 days while 58 operations have been conducted as part of the anti-encroachment drive also undertaken by the minister.

“At the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), an aggressive campaign has been launched against illegal currency exchange and Hundi Hawala as 37 cases were registered and Rs73 million were recovered besides arresting 55 accused. As many as 26 more cases are under investigation while eight cases are under trial.”

The number of cases registered under the Anti-Money Laundering Act is 26 whereas 34 accused have been arrested and all cases are in the investigation phase, the official said.