ISLAMABAD: Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the President, has been temporarily appointed as the acting Federal Ombudsman (Mohtasib), a position that has been vacant for over two years since former Ombudsman Javed Malik completed his four-year tenure.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf assigned additional responsibilities to Faruqui, whose temporary assignment will last till the appointment of an ombudsman on a regular basis.

Speaking to DawnNews, Faruqui said 75,000 pending complaints were piled up in the federal ombudsman’s office of people aggrieved of actions or in-actions of federal institutions.

He said that his objective would be to clear the backlog of complaints during his period at the office, which he said he would serve without pay in an honorary capacity.

Faruqui has previously served as Secretary to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and as Additional Secretary to former Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo

Faruqui has also served as Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan and Ambassador-at-Large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has worked for several ministries in the past.