FIA budget not sufficient: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday observed that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had not enough funds and if there was lack of funds, the institutions should be closed down. The apex court said that there was no monitoring system on the borders of the country as thousands of people crossed it over illegally. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qazi Faiz Isa heard the case of human trafficking.
During the hearing, Justice Qazi Faiz Isa observed that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had become an aimless organisation as there was no check and monitoring system on the borders of the country wherein thousands of people crossed it over illegally. “If our borders are not to be saved, how we can fight terrorism”, Justice Qazi Faiz Isa remarked. Secretary Interior Shahid Khan while appearing before the court submitted that in order to tackle terrorism in the country, National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Necta) had been established adding that the law enforcement agencies acted upon the framework of Necta while the police played an important role in meeting the task.
Justice Qazi Faiz Isa however, observed if FIA was not functioning well, the terrorism could not be tackled effectively.Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja observed that Pakistani citizens, trapped by the human traffickers were found dying on foreign countries but nobody was seriously looking into the miseries of their heirs. He further observed that human traffickers took money from the youths while taking them to Italy, Greece and Turkey and thereafter, leaving them on the beaches. He said that the authorities concerned did not bother to look into this serious matter. The FIA however, told the court that due to shortage of funds, progress could not be made in the investigation process.
Chief Justice observed if the FIA had shortage of funds, how it could get intelligence information for curbing terrorism.Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that as per National Action Plan (NAP), stoppage of funds to the terrorist outfits and money laundering were the responsibility of FIA adding if it lacked funds, how it could initiate effective investigation.
Secretary Interior however, told the court that FIA had a budget of Rs1.6 billion of which 20 percent was allocated for operational expenditure including salaries of the staff etc.He rejected the stance taken by the FIA saying that right from cell phone expenditure to investigation officers, they were given supplementary grants as well.
Meanwhile, the court directed if the FIA was functioning well in discharging its duties, it should submit a written statement before it and adjourned the hearing till today (Friday).