{"id":31950,"date":"2015-03-03T21:03:08","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T16:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unnpakistan.com\/?p=31950"},"modified":"2015-06-02T23:08:13","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T18:08:13","slug":"unprecedented-step-in-history-of-pakistan-establishment-of-punjab-overseas-pakistanis-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/?p=31950","title":{"rendered":"Unprecedented step in history of Pakistan \u2018Establishment of Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unprecedented step in history of Pakistan \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Establishment of Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Establishment of Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission is an unprecedented act of Punjab\u00a0government. Its well understood in all walks of the life that the overseas Pakistanis are the\u00a0real ambassadors and presenting the country all over the world. At the moment approximately\u00a0over sixty eight million Pakistanis are living abroad, away from home and their love ones but\u00a0had no voice in decision making of national matters or even resolving of their own personal\u00a0issues in Pakistan. Setting up Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab would be good news\u00a0for all those huge numbers of expatriates for their satisfaction and optimism in resolving of their\u00a0problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overseas Pakistanis are playing vital role in strengthening the national economy by their\u00a0remittances .In the last fiscal year alone the remittances exceeded over $11 billion US Dollars,\u00a0which accounts for almost 7 per cent of the national economy. On the other hand, total tax\u00a0revenue generated in Pakistan accounts for 10 per cent of the GDP. Since expatriates\u00a0contribute such huge sums to their motherland, it may be prudent to formalize expatriates\u2019 role\u00a0in securing Pakistan\u2019s faltered law and order situation and\/or in decision making . But regret to\u00a0state that despite this remarkable contribution to the devastating economy in Pakistan for the\u00a0last many years, expatriates had no voice or any real representation on any social, political, or\u00a0economic platform in Pakistan. They have been facing immense problems back home in every\u00a0walks of life for example education of their children, health, employment hindrances, involving\u00a0in criminal cases, getting connections of utility services, travel agents and airlines related\u00a0issues, banks related matters disputes in family, safety of property, safety of lives, law and order\u00a0concerns, settling down issues unemployment on return and numerous types of similar issues.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to overcome these problems, Punjab Government has devised a welfare plan where\u00a0an office of \u201cPunjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission\u201d has been approved by Punjab Assembly\u00a0in November 2014. The commission has been enacted in law called \u2018the Punjab Overseas\u00a0Pakistanis Commission act 2014 (Act XX of 2014). This new established office shall be fully\u00a0empowered by law to look after the welfare of Overseas Pakistanis. The main objectives shall\u00a0include general welfare of overseas Pakistanis, addressing of their genuine complaints within\u00a0the jurisdiction of the provincial Government, looking after and providing them protections from\u00a0land grabbing, facilitation of their investments, welcoming of their suggestions and including\u00a0them in mainstream politics etc. This office is now integral part of Government of Punjab like\u00a0other office as far as services and general administration is concerned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a need of the time that overseas Pakistanis should have a platform available in Pakistan\u00a0who could own their problems and raise their voice on their behalf in their absence. Based\u00a0on my personal extended experience as an expatriate I have an ample knowledge about the\u00a0sufferings and hardships being faced by our Pakistani brethren while living abroad. I have\u00a0learned their problems by travelling around the world to avail the several opportunities to sit with\u00a0them in different countries around the world and share their issues. My meetings with overseas\u00a0Pakistanis of all levels ranging from the status of labors to the levels of senior executives and\u00a0CEOs in different countries which has encouraged me to be their voice and open a forum to\u00a0extend a helping hand in resolving of their concerns. Hence on this perception I had decided to\u00a0repatriate and open a law firm in Pakistan to provide solely assistance to overseas Pakistanis\u00a0on free of charge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s prudent to say that now the Punjab Government headed by C.M Muhammad Shahbaz\u00a0Sharif has taken an unprecedented step in the history of Pakistan and has strategized a plan\u00a0to help overseas Pakistanis. Initially an office of Overseas Pakistanis Commissioner, Punjab,\u00a0has recently established this commission under the personal interest of Chief minister and the\u00a0special arrangements has been made for resolving problems faced by the expatriates. Having\u00a0this bitter truth that since long the overseas Pakistanis were facing different kinds of problems\u00a0which required to be taken seriously at federal government level but no one has even thought\u00a0about or taken any bold step in this regard. The constitution of Islamic democratic republic of\u00a0Pakistan entitles each citizen for equality in all respect. The newly established \u2018Punjab Overseas\u00a0Pakistanis Commission\u2019 shall be functioning in its duties and functions as all the complaints\u00a0of expatriates which may be lodged in any one of the mode they consider it feasible and\u00a0appropriate, like online complaint portal, Constituted advisory councils, respective embassies,\u00a0high commissions or consulates or directly writing to the office of the commissioner will be\u00a0handled without prejudice.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Its combination would be comprised as an officer of the level of Additional Secretary shall be\u00a0selected by all department and the Police and Board of Revenue will appoint an officer of the\u00a0level of Additional Inspector General and a Member of Board of Revenue as Focal Person for\u00a0addressing the complaints received from Overseas Pakistanis to deal with their complaints\u00a0and monitor the progress. The Commissioner shall be responsible to investigate or to refer\u00a0any complaint he may deem suitable to the office of the Punjab Ombudsman for further\u00a0remedial action. All such complaints referred to the Provincial Government Departments shall\u00a0be immediately transmitted \/ transferred to the concerned departments\/offices and shall be\u00a0continuously monitored for quick remedial action and the progress will also be submitted to the\u00a0Chief Secretary and Chief Minister accordingly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To bring these welfare benefits to the gross route levels districts committees in each district\u00a0of Punjab would be constituted which shall be headed by a Chairperson (nominated by\u00a0Commissioner), District Coordination Officer (Vice Chairperson, two members (nominated by\u00a0the Commissioner), District Police Officer or Head of the District Police (member), Additional\u00a0District Collector (Secretary\/member), Representatives of the concerned district departments\u00a0to be co-opted by the Committee. The Commission will also make recommendations for\u00a0policy changes and establishing of similar body at federal level in order to make improvements\u00a0in the system of Federal Government as well as Provincial Government on the basis of the\u00a0suggestions .complaints and \/ or any feedback received from the Overseas Pakistanis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end we would like to congratulate to every member of Punjab assembly who become part\u00a0of this wonderful act of welfare for Overseas Pakistanis and offer our services and full support to\u00a0contribute our expertise in providing assistance to help in smooth functioning of the commission\u00a0in order to make it beneficent and produce the required results. We also would extend our\u00a0humbleness in reminding the federal Government to establish and approve similar welfare\u00a0platform on federal level.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Written By:\u00a0Dr. Raja. M. Javaid Janjua<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Bureau Chief UNP, Islamabad)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unprecedented step in history of Pakistan \u00a0 \u2018Establishment of Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission\u2019\u00a0 Establishment of Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission is an unprecedented act of Punjab\u00a0government…. Continue Reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31950"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37572,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31950\/revisions\/37572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unnpakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}