ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to assemble a set of highly technically equipped paramilitary and customs forces battalions under a Border Monitoring Initiative (IMC) of Rs of billions of rupees to control cross-border smuggling, which causes significant losses for the economy country.
A senior government official said Dawn that Prime Minister Imran Khan had already approved the immediate recruitment of more than 2,000 officials, in addition to gathering two additional battalions, each of the Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts and the Pakistan Coast Guard. These inductions would be carried out through a strict security authorization by the relevant security agencies.
Pakistan Customs was given the leading role for an initial period of two years and would be fully equipped with modern technological devices, logistic support, weapons, etc. The prime minister also ordered the immediate creation of a general law and prosecution department to support customs activities
Shuhada's package, under which police families and paramilitary personnel receive compensation, has also been extended to Pakistan's customs officials and officials who lose their lives in the line of duty.
The update of border monitoring facilities is also part of the IMC. This would cost more than Rs52 billion alone in Balochistan, where the armed forces will continue to have a leading role. A Steering Committee Against Smuggling (ASSC) was also established directly under the Prime Minister.
At a recent ASSC meeting, the prime minister also formed a committee composed of his financial advisor, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh, trade advisor Abdul Razak Dawood and the president of the Federal Revenue Board, Shabbar Zaidi, to finalize in a month a plan for tariff rationalization of items prone to smuggling. He directed the creation of a series of cross-point working groups in three to six months at the national, provincial and divisional levels with the participation of high-level representatives of the ministries of the interior, commerce, narcotics control, maritime affairs, law and justice and defense. and main ministers and intelligence agencies.
Under the logistics and equipment requirements of the BMI, the ASSC also approved the acquisition of double cab vehicles, coasters, motorcycles, high-tech weapons, bulletproof vests, tracking dogs and other resources this year and through special allocations in the federal budget FY20-21 and ordered the FBR to play a leading role in the preparation of the project and in obtaining assignments in consultation with the ministries of interior and finance and the cabinet division.
The prime minister also took serious note of corrupt practices and the absence of disciplinary actions and ordered the ministries and agencies concerned to apply strict disciplinary and administrative measures against all officials / officials who are engaged in anti-smuggling activities. "Actions must be brought against supervisory officers if they do not control or prevent their subordinates from engaging in corrupt practices," the prime minister was cited as a written request. All agencies were also ordered to immediately introduce incentives and performance-based incentives for staff.
It has been decided to fully integrate the data against smuggling and trade with a central database in six and nine months and Pakistan Customs must create a forfeiture portal so that the complete information is available to the higher authorities for monitoring purposes .
The prime minister also ordered the gradual transition of the process of movement of Afghan citizens from Tazkira to e-Rahdari and the subsequent implementation of the full visa regime. The entire transition must be completed in 30 months. In addition, the ministries of defense and commerce will review the modalities of the Afghan Transit Commercial Agreement.
The ministries and provinces in question (in particular, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan) have been instructed to implement the action plan for the economic development of border areas. The financial overlap with priority for different areas will be supported by the federal and provincial governments through the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and annual development plans (ADP), respectively. The army will have a leading role in Balochistan, while the PK government will gradually take an important role to fill the void.
The total financial cost of the selective actions under the plan for the newly merged districts of KP is estimated at Rs2.25bn that will be adjusted within the Tribal Decade Strategy approved by the Center and the provinces in the last stage of the government prior to an estimated cost of about Rs1 billion.
Similarly, the financial overlap of these initiatives under the BMI in Balochistan was estimated at around Rs 53,000 million, but due to the financial crisis, spending will extend to three to five years, depending on the level of threat and progress. in the fencing of the borders of Balochistan. As a first priority, around Rs23bn will be spent in the Zhob and Mand regions to improve border monitoring to stop smuggling.
Progress will continue in the Dalbandin region with Rs7bn, the Taftan region with Rs10bn and the rest of Balochistan with Rs12bn in that order of priority.
Ministries of defense and maritime affairs have been ordered to conduct a comprehensive study of coastal areas within six months. They were also ordered to transfer a separate case to the prime minister for the cost of the survey.
The prime minister has directed the sequential control over the smuggling of Iranian oil to the country with specific instructions that "the authorities concerned should ensure that law enforcement agencies are not part of smuggling."
Published on Dawn, November 18, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1517322/new-battalions-being-raised-to-curb-smuggling