The National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) has been unable to achieve even a single objective it was formed for.
The authority was formed in 2002 under the interior ministry to register illegal immigrants and unauthorised foreigners, and issue them work permits.
NARA was supposed to complete its work (registration of all illegal immigrants in the country) within three years, but despite the passage of more than a decade, the authority has failed to obtain its principal objective, disclosed the annual audit report prepared by the auditor general of Pakistan.
According to the audit papers, more than Rs 50 million have been spent by NARA, but they have gone to waste as none of the authority’s goals have been met.
The audit department also unearthed misappropriation of around Rs 20 million, which have been spent on compensation, purchase of vehicles or under other heads.
NARA was formed exercising powers conferred by sub-section (1) of 14 D of the Foreigner Act, 1946. NARA had to establish a force of its own to locate illegal aliens, in addition to setting up provincial task forces to assist it in performing its functions.
NARA has been able to register only 119,811 aliens until June 2011 and issue just 1,155 work permits.
The registration of illegal aliens is a very sensitive issue as they are not only a burden on the country’s economy, but also involved in crimes including drug trafficking and human smuggling.
According to misappropriation of funds data mentioned in the audit report, the high-ups of the authority paid Rs 6.417 million under the head of office building rent and also gave away Rs 837,000 as compensation, beyond the approved rate.
A sum of Rs 5.564 million was spent on purchasing vehicles without the approval of the finance division.
The authority also paid Rs 2.724 million under the head of purchasing fuel and repairing government vehicles.
A sum of Rs 3.660 million was paid as house rent, Rs 1.239 for unauthorised maintenance of a Toyota Corolla 1,300 CC car, Rs 1.150 million for “secret service”, Rs 575,000 for cash rewards to employees in violation of financial rules, Rs 593,000 on advertisements on television cable networks and Rs 483,627 on stationary items.
