KHYBER: A head constable of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) deployed at immigration checkpost at Torkham was suspended on Monday for harassing an Afghan woman.

An order, issued by the FIA director office in Peshawar, said that the action against the accused, Kamran Nawaz, was taken after the incident of harassment of an Afghan woman during immigration process was reported by assistant director of FIA immigration at Torkham.

The issue about the immoral act surfaced through a mobile video when an Afghan woman complained to an official of FIA. The unidentified Afghan woman was heard in the video saying that the accused repeatedly touched her body during the immigration process. The woman was seen crying while narrating her ordeal at the hands of the accused FIA sleuth.

Local human rights activists and labour union leaders a few days ago had also accused the FIA staff posted at Torkham of objectionable behaviour with Afghan women and also their involvement in human trafficking.

They had alleged that the objectionable and unlawful activities of officials were earning a bad name for the country while it could also prove detrimental for bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

They alleged that the FIA staff issued fake visas to Afghans after receiving huge amount from them while the same people then used Pakistan as a ‘jumping board’ for going European countries and the United States of America.

Shafqat Jamal, an FIA official at Torkham, denied the allegations and told Dawn that some of the people, who had levelled the allegations against the agency, were themselves involved in human trafficking and had on a number of occasions asked for illegal favour in the recent past.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2022