Sindh Ombudsman Asad Ashraf Malik said that all districts will have regional director offices in due course to provide justice to the people at their doorsteps. He was addressing conference of regional directors of Ombudsman Secretariat in Karachi.
He directed the regional directors to raise quantum of output to justify their positions. He described their responsibility as a sacred trust and urged them to devote whole heartedly to resolve problems of the aggrieved masses to fulfill the objectives for which the institution has been established.
He emphasised that the ombudsman institution was a pubic service institution, therefore, it was incumbent upon them to put sincere and dedicated efforts to provide relief to the complainants. He advised them to focus on problem resolution b passing normal official red-tapsim. The Ombudsman said that regional directors hence forth would be given quantifiable targets to measure their efficiency. He further said that he will personally monitor the performance of regional office to ensure fulfillment of public expectations attached with the Institution and only those Regional Directors will continue in the set-up who perform and help in providing relief.
He asked the regional directors to create a helpful and caring image of the Institution through selfless and dedicated service.
The ombudsman directed them to pay special attention to the problems relating to children, widows and senior citizens. He said excesses committed on children have grave long-term implications, therefore, must be promptly and properly addressed. He directed to improve the handling of children related complaints at the regional level. He also advise them to have proper coordination wit h all the institutions of their regions.
It was decided in the meeting to organize regional directors Conference on quarterly basis and arrange short duration training programmes for improving their understandings of laws and procedure governing the operations.
Earlier the Secretary, Ombudsman Secretariat Mr. Younus Dagha gave a detailed brief on the working of all the regional stations identify their out put and constraints.
Meanwhile, Reidar Kvaal Hjermann, UNICEF Consultant in Pakistan, who is also former ombudsman for children in Norway, called on Asad Ashraf Malik and held detailed discussion on issues and projects relating to the children complaint office in Sindh.
Hjermann was accompanied by Eja Qureshi Advisor CCO, federal Ombudsman, Sohail Abba and Mrs Jabeen of UNICEF Karachi.
The UNICEF has recently hired the services of Reidar Kvaal Hjermann to review CCO projects in Pakistan and suggest way forward for promoting CCO objectives in Pakistan.
