GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to establish a (full) circle office in Gujrat having three districts Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad.

It will be done through bifurcation of Gujranwala circle to cope with the growing challenge of illegal human smuggling. Accordingly, the Gujrat circle office will have at least 57 posts including a deputy director, two assistant directors and inspectors.

Gujrat sub circle Assistant Director Mirza Sarfraz told Dawn that a special FIA court would also be set up; earlier, the special judge of the central FIA Gujranwala used to hear the cases four days a week in Gujranwala and once a week in Gujrat. A separate court in Gujrat would have to be set up for such cases, he said.

An FIA Gujrat police station has been operational for the last one decade but now the authorities have decided to enhance the capacity of the agency to enable it to cope with the major challenge of illegal human trafficking in Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad districts.

An assistant director heads the Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin sub circles of the FIA which will soon be given the status of regional office like Gujranwala’s office where an officer of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) has been working as the deputy director FIA.

The FIA authorities have been facing a daunting task of curbing human smuggling as well as illegal channels of money transfer across the globe from Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin due to a large number of overseas Pakistanis.

FIA Director General Basheer Memon, FIA Director Punjab Dr Usman Anwar and Gujranwala Deputy Director Mufakhar Adeel paid a visit to the proposed site for the establishment of a regional office in Gujrat around a week ago. Gujrat District Police Officer Jahanzeb Nazeer Khan and Additional Deputy Commissioner Syed Musa Raza briefed the visiting team on the proposed site in the compound of the district administration’s complex.

Three rooms which were recently vacated by the Arazi Record Center (ARC) in front of the DC complex have been proposed for the FIA’s circle office after the Home Department directed the Gujrat district administration to provide rooms for the circle office.

The FIA team approved the site after which these rooms have been handed over to the agency that has also installed its banner. The office is yet to start its work and, sources say, it may be functional within the current month.

Official sources told Dawn that the FIA officers expressed their desire to get another building which also was in the use of the ARC so that a police station (which is working in a building adjacent to Rehmania police station along GT Road) could be set up but the administration did not agree to the proposal and said the said building would be utilised to set up a one-window service centre of public services.

The Gujranwala region, especially Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts, are considered hub of human smuggling rackets who find people from rural areas as clients. Of late, there has been growing international pressure especially from the European countries to curb the menace of illegal human trafficking of Pakistani and Afghan nationals through Iran and Turkey.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018