By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: The government is moving forward briskly with its plan of setting up the first-ever ‘fast-track’ court in federal capital to ensure speedy retrieval of expatriates’ properties from land grabbers.
The project has been entered into final stages as the Ministry of Law and Justice would finalize the summary shortly by approving the official definition of an ‘Overseas Pakistani’, an official in the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) told on Thursday. After finalization of the summary, the final draft would be presented before the Federal Cabinet and Parliament for their approval, he added. He said the summary was submitted to the law ministry by the OP&HRD a couple of months ago on instruction of Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, who came up with the idea of establishing the dedicated fast-track court for expatriates. It was an established fact that most of the issues of the overseas Pakistanis were related to the land disputes, the official added.
“Main objective of this initiative is to move forward for swift retrieval of valuable properties of Pakistanis living abroad from mafias and bring them to justice,†Zulfikar Bukhari told APP in an interview recently. According to Bukhari, the fast-track court would ensure disposal of cases within one month period. He said: “On special directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government would extend all possible facilities to expatriates for investment in diverse fields of economy.â€
The special assistant said the fast-track court in the capital city would be taken as a pilot project after which similar courts would be set up in other cities of the country. He regretted that previous government did not pay attention towards this issue of overseas Pakistanis despite the fact that they repeatedly highlighted their miseries.
He also said a special desk for expats had been set up at the Police Facilitation Centre in Islamabad to ensure swift resolution of the issues of overseas Pakistanis, adding the officials of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation had been working at the special desk around the clock to establish a strong connectivity among the departments concerned for resolving expats’ complaints instantly.
