Islamabad; 30th August, 2021: The Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development met in Committee Room of old PIPS, Parliament Lodges, Islamabad, this morning under the Chairmanship of Sheikh Fayyaz ud Din, MNA to discuss the various issues pertaining to M/o Overseas Pakistanis & HRD.

The Committee expressed grave concern over the Overseas Pakistanis detained in jails of different countries against minor cases and could not pursue their cases due to financial constraints. The Committee therefore, directed that M/o Overseas Pakistanis & HRD may take up their cases at appropriate forum and provide them legal assistance so that they came back to Pakistan at the earliest.

The Committee expressed concern over the unnecessary delay in finalizing the corruption cases of their officials and Community Welfare Attaches (CWA) in Departmental Account Committees despite the fact some of the cases are pending more than 15 years and directed that ministry may finalize their inquiry reports at the earliest and pursue their cases effectively pending in NAB, FIA and other Courts for adjudication so that culprits could be penalized accordingly.

The Committee also expressed concern over the discriminatory attitude of Australian Universities towards Pakistani Students despite the fact they have paid heavy fees but universities are not allowing them for visa or to continue their online studies which is a huge loss of a large number of Pakistani Students. The Committee therefore, directed that Minister of Foreign Affairs may be requested to take up the issue with Australian Foreign Minister to find out its amicable solution.      

The meeting was attended by Mr. Shahid Ahmed, MNA, Mr. Sajid Khan, MNA, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Khan Dullah, MNA, Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhary, MNA Ms. Tashfeen Safdar, MNA, Syed Javed Husnain, MNA, Ms. Zahra Wadood Fatemi, MNA, Syed Abrar Ali Shah, MNA and Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, MNA & officials of M/o Overseas Pakistanis & HRD and M/o Foreign Affairs were also present in the meeting.