ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has appreciated the performance of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) during 2015.

At a briefing by officials of the FIA and Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority) here on Wednesday, he said the agency was promoting values and positive attitude in society.

However, the minister said that FIA should further improve its performance in 2016 by accelerating the pace of its work. For this year, he added, the agency should focus on cases of corruption, human trafficking and white collar crimes.

The meeting reviewed the performance of a campaign launched against human trafficking in 2015.

It was informed that the FIA had arrested 598 people for their involvement in human trafficking and that cases had been registered against them. The arrested people included 137 proclaimed offenders and 48 absconders. Eleven of them were wanted persons who had been evading arrest for some time.

The FIA officials said that the agency had started to collect passports and CNICs of the arrested people and would develop a database of those who remained involved in human trafficking.

The meeting decided to broaden the campaign against human trafficking and asked the FIA to seek support of other federal departments, including Nadra.

The minister was informed that Pakistanis deported from different countries and other arrested people were being interrogated by FIA’s zonal directors.

The meeting decided that all unverified deportees, especially those being deported by the US, Australia, Greece and Bulgaria without fulfilling the criteria set by the interior ministry, would be sent back to these countries from airports.

The minister was informed that the airlines brining unverified deportees were being fined.

The minister was also briefed on developments in various money laundering cases.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2016