Pakistan Railways bans record sharing with NAB, FIA sans officers permission.

LAHORE -- Pakistan Railways has imposed a ban on direct correspondence and provision of important record by his officers to the anti-graft agencies - National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in various cases.

The PR management has also directed its entire field formations to first get permission from the chief executive officer (CEO) before giving any information, document etc to NAB and FIA.

'It has been observed with concern that the correspondence, including provision of official record/documents to anti-graft agencies like NAB, FIA is being carried out without following standard protocols and without the knowledge and prior approval of of the PR headquarters office,' reads a letter sent by Deputy General Manager Qasim Zahoor to the PR police inspector general, director general (Walton Training School), additional general managers (AGMs) for traffic, mechanical and infrastructure, all principal officers and divisional superintendents, general managers (GMs) and managing directors (MDs).

'The CEO has taken serious notice of this practice. And he has directed that in future any correspondence, including provision of record, documents etc to NAB, FIA would be carried out after his approval. Any laxity in this regard will be viewed seriously,' the letter warns.

Talking to Dawn, a senior PR official termed the order unlawful under various laws related to access to information and those empowering NAB or FIA to seize the required record in case of any delay in provision of the same during inquiries.

'This order reflects that something was wrong on the part of PR offices. The PR offices are already extra cautious while dealing with such institutions [NAB, FIA] and mostly they send copies of the...