The Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has taken serious notice on the complaints lodged by overseas Pakistanis, especially South African overseas Pakistanis, regarding the problems faced at airports. The Federal Ombudsman while addressing the overseas Pakistanis Convention at Convention Center Islamabad said that One Window Facilitation Desks have been established at all international airports in Pakistan for the convenience of overseas Pakistanis. He further said that a full-time Grievance Commissioner appointed by him is working in WMS for immediate resolution of grievances of overseas Pakistanis.
He informed the audience that overseas Pakistanis can also register their complaints online or through Mobile App. He further informed that 178 federal govt. agencies have been integrated with the Complaint Management Information System (CMIS) of the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat and in case a complaint remains un-resolved by an agency for more than 30 days, the same is automatically transferred to the CMIS of the WMS for normal processing and disposal within 60 days. He added that every complainant is automatically notified at every stage of processing of complaint while complaints of overseas Pakistanis regarding provincial departments are forwarded to concerned Provincial Ombudsman for action. He said that instructions have been issued to the Pakistani Ambassadors in all Pakistan Missions abroad to hear the complaints of overseas Pakistanis personally once a week without appointments; and to pass necessary orders for their redressal.
The Ombudsman informed Overseas Pakistanis that 39604 complaints were received in 2021 at One Window Facilitation Desks out of which 39595 were resolved; 13,976 complaints were received in Pakistan Missions out of which 11,313 were disposed of and 769 complaints were received by the Grievance Commissioner which were also resolved in the shortest possible time. The Federal Ombudsman took a serious notice on a complaint of Overseas Pakistani belonging to South Africa regarding maltreatment and corruption by the Immigration Staff on airports and ordered an inquiry into the matter. He said that 9 million overseas Pakistanis are our asset and the WMS treats their every complaint with utmost seriousness and takes necessary steps for redressal of those complaints on priority basis.
