GUJRAT: The Punjab government has barred all district chairmen of the Overseas Pakistanis Commission from conducting meetings across the province.

On May 27, the provincial government had denotified the vice chairman of the Punjab OPC and now the chairmen of all district chapters of the commission have been stopped from working through another notification issued by the deputy director (admin) Punjab OPC, dated June 8.

Official sources said most of the district level chairmen had been notified as per the recommendations by the then ruling coalition partners (PTI and PML-Q) in Punjab while in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin they had been appointed on the recommendation of the PML-Q.

The district chapters of the OPC had been constituted by the Shehbaz Sharif in Punjab when he was the chief minister last time and most of the initial district chairmen of the OPC had been the MPAs of the PML N.

The deputy commissioners, district police officers and some expatriates are also members of district chapters of the OPC and at least one meeting every month is mandatory to discuss issues of overseas Pakistanis. The expatriate Pakistanis can lodge their online complaints on the portal of the Punjab OPC, which refers them to district chapter for action.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2022