ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has issued a formal questionnaire to former senator and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Farhatullah Babar, directing him to submit comprehensive financial records and asset details.

The notice, signed by FIA Deputy Director Muhammad Afzal Khan Niazi mandates Babar to disclose “full details” of movable/immovable assets, bank accounts, and vehicles registered in his name, income tax declarations, tax submissions, and sources of income, besides details of all the properties held by his spouse and dependents.

Moreover, the former senator has also been asked to provide details of the benefits, foreign funds and Senate privileges received during his senatorship and documentation of public expenditures.

Mr Babar, who is also the head of the PPP’s Human Rights Committee, has long been an advocate for transparency and human rights.

Civil society activists to hold rally on April 15 to express solidarity with ex-senator

The Anti-Corruption Circle of the FIA had initially sent a notice to Mr Babar last month on the complaint of a resident of Morgah in Rawalpindi, and summoned him to the office on March 28, which he complied.

In response to the FIA’s query, Mr Babar said that he received 12 questions by WhatsApp from the FIA on April 11, evening long after office hours.

“Curiously, it is dated March 28, 2025”, he said, adding that he had appeared before FIA on the same day, but “neither on that day nor afterwards, I was asked these questions.”

“Worse still, the WhatsApp questionnaire sent to me first-time on April 11 directing me to give replies to all questions by April 7,” said Mr Babar.

He said when he appeared before FIA on March 28, he was verbally told to provide information about his income and assets.

“I formally requested a copy of the complaint to be able to give, in good faith, full and complete information in response to the charges levelled by a private citizen. Instead of giving me a copy of the complaint, FIA slammed me with these 12 questions,” he regretted.

“Although as taxpayers information about income, taxes and assets is available with FBR, the WhatsApp questionnaire goes far beyond, delving into my distant past, answers to which may have to be sought from different offices, in different locations and perhaps in distant lands in different time zones,” he said.

“If this is not harassment and intimidation, and if it is not deliberately aimed at publicly humiliating a senior citizen in his mid-80s by the powerful who think they are above the law, what else is this?” he questioned.

Besides the PPP, the media and civil society organisations have already condemned the FIA’s action, terming it an “act of victimisation” at the behest of the powerful circles for raising his voice for the downtrodden and victims of human rights violations. The civil society organisations have also announced to hold a rally in front of the National Press Club on April 15 to express solidarity with Mr Babar and to demand withdrawal of the FIA notice.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2025