KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to request the federal government to constitute a judicial commission to probe the activities of Federal Investigation Agency in the province.
A statement issued here from the CM House said that the Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had himself offered PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari to constitute a judicial commission to investigate the raids conducted by FIA in Sindh, if the latter (Zardari) desired so. “Yes, the Sindh government will appreciate if Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, in order to keep the record straight, takes a bold initiative to constitute a judicial commission into the FIA raids in Sindh,” the statement said, and added that FIA had taken away more than 15,000 files from the KMC building.
The Sindh government is of the view that the FIA has no authority and jurisdiction to conduct raids in the offices of the provincial government. “The provincial government has its own mechanism to take action against corruption in its departments. The FIA under a self-proclaimed authority has taken over the role of anti-corruption in the limits of provincial government which is unconstitutional, illegal and against the spirit of the 18th Amendment,” the statement said. It may be recalled that Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan through a press conference had offered PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari that he was ready to constitute a judicial commission if the latter and his party’s government in Sindh felt that FIA had crossed its limits in the province.
The Sindh government, while accepting his offer, has requested the federal minister to constitute the judicial commission. The findings of the judicial commission will help remove misunderstandings developed on the issue of FIA and NAB jurisdiction or actions in Sindh, a provincial government spokesman said. “This is a good, pragmatic and bold offer on part of Interior minister. The statement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on NAB also endorses Sindh government’s stance in this regard,” he said. The spokesman hoped that the federal minister will immediately constitute the judicial commission to end the row between the provincial and federal governments on the issue of FIA jurisdiction.
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