Federal Investigation Agency, also known as FIA, is an investigation agency of Pakistan that is responsible for counterintelligence, border control, criminal investigation, smuggling, terrorism, federal crimes, infringement, and espionage. It also performs worldwide operations with the cooperation of Interpol. The agency is tasked and controlled by the Interior Secretary of Pakistan.
The agency is formed on January 13, 1975, and is headed by Director-General. The headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency is located in Islamabad. The motto of the agency is Truth and Honesty. There are a lot of offices and branches in all of the main cities in Pakistan. This article comprises all the information, including FIA History.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Government | |
| Type: | Government of Pakistan |
| President: | Muhammad Amlish, PSP, Director-General |
| Details | |
| Type: | Agency |
| Abbreviation : | FIA |
| Motto: | Truth and Honesty |
| Formed: | 13 January 1975; 42 years ago |
| Preceding agency : | Pakistan Special Police Establishment (1948) |
| Employees : | Mild Classified |
| Legal personality : | Governmental: Government agency |
| Legal jurisdiction : | Constitution of Pakistan |
| General nature : | Law enforcement, Civilian agency |
| Overviewed : | Islamabad, Pakistan |
| Agency executive : | Muhammad Amlish, PSP, Director-General |
| Major Units : | 10 |
| Website: | fia.gov.pk |
Table of Contents
FIA History
Initial History
During World War 2, the department of Special Police Establishment was formed by the British Government for investigating ICS (Indian Civil Service) corruption. After the partition of the Indian Subcontinent, SPE was divided between Pakistan and India. India changed the name of Special Police Establishment to CBI while Pakistan kept the name of Pakistan Special Police Establishment (PSPE).
PSPE was given the responsibility of investigating cases under the acts of Official Secret 1923, Customs Act 1959, Passport Offenses 1952, and Foreign Exchange Regulation 1947. Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto carried out Police Reforms after Pak – India war in 1971. FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) was established in 1975 after passing FIA Act 1974 by the parliament of Pakistan.
Role of FIA
The scope of FIA was initially limited to civil corruption, passport issues, and tax bribery, but their role was expanded after initiating war by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The agents of the Federal Investigation Agency successfully solved the case of hijacking a Pakistani plane Boeing 720 CR, and traced Murtaza Bhutto in Syria while limiting the access of his group Al – Zulfikar Group.
End to Drug Trade
It manipulated a drug case and put an end to the drug trade while arresting the head of the Gand dealers in 1985. From 1982 and onwards, they investigated Jam Saqi, who was the leader of the Pakistan Communist Party and helped the court in an investigation of their findings against Jam Saqi. In 1986, they helped in detaining a Libyan pilot who helped terrorists in hijacking Pan Am Flight 73.
Expansion of Role
Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto expanded the role of FIA similar to that of ISI in 1993. They started intelligence and investigating cases on an international level after the appointment of Rehman Malik as the Director-General of FIA.
Collaboration with FBI
FIA worked in collaboration with the FBI to investigate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and helped them to track Ramzi Yousaf in Pakistan, who was the mastermind after World Trade Center Bombing in 1993. In 1990 they jointly worked with the FBI against the masterminds of Al – Qaeda, Ramzi Yousaf, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad while arresting Yousaf in 1995 and Mohammad in 2002 in Rawalpindi.
Terrorism Operations
They gained world fame after many thriving operations against terrorism in 1996. Moreover, FIA launched its secret operation against terrorism which makes them parallel in competition with Inter-Services Intelligence. Furthermore, they investigated Sultan Mehmood for nuclear terrorism in 2001 and cleared the charges of Mehmood in 2002.
They established Counter-Terrorism-Wing and provided them special equipment of FBI along training under ATTP (Anti Terrorism Assistance Program). Afia Siddique, who was suspected of helping the Afghan Taliban, was tracked by them with the coordination of the FBI and arrested in Karachi. After the court’s decision, Afia was handed over to FIA for more investigation.
FIA Objectives
The protection of national interest and the defense of Pakistan is the main objective which includes the support of merit, ensuring responsibility, encouraging technological use, and providing training to achieve national interest.
FIA Structure
It is headed by the Director-General, who is appointed by the interior ministry of Pakistan. The headquarter is located in Islamabad, where assistance is provided to the other provincial offices in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Sindh.
The heads in the provincial offices of the country are called directors who are assisted by the Director-General of the FIA headquarters. Furthermore, there are small wings which are headed by deputy directors and assisted by many other officers like inspectors and sub-inspectors, etc., to run the business of the Bureau.
FIA Departments
Federal Investigation Agency comprises ten departments that are accountable for investigation and other crimes with different precedence. Departments are given below.
1- Counter-Terrorism Wing
Counter-Terrorism Wing is accountable for all kinds of terrorism attacks in Pakistan which includes cyber attacks, nuclear terrorism, electronic terrorism, chemical, and bioterrorism. CTW is responsible for avoiding such types of attacks and inform the Director-General about these types of attacks.
2- Economic Crime Wing
Economic Crime Wing takes care of the people’s rational property rights and terrorism related to the economy of Pakistan, which is the prime duty of ECW.
3- Anti Corruption Wing
The responsibility of the Anti Corruption Wing is to combat and investigate corruption at all levels within the country. Investigating corruption and combating is the prime duty of ACW.
4- Technical Wing
The main concern of the Technical Wing is to provide scientific and technical assistance to avoid technological crimes as well as to protect the country against espionage, counter-proliferation, intelligence, and counterintelligence of other countries.
5- Immigration Wing
The agency includes the Immigration Wing, which is accountable for resisting illegal migration of the people to Pakistan and to warfare illegal human interchange on the borders of Pakistan.
6- National Central Bureau
National Central Bureau is assigned with the duty to combat national or transnational criminal ventures and organizations with the help of US investigation agency, FBI, and Interpol globally.
7- Legal Branch
The legal branch is responsible for protecting civil rights and granting lawful supervision in terms of operational and administrative issues.
8- Anti Trafficking Unit
Anti Trafficking Unit is accountable for avoiding aggressive offenses, defending trafficking victims, and guarantee the courage of human trafficking within the country.
FIA Operations
Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, widened the scope and range of this agency within the country and internationally. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ran many intelligence programs all over the world for the sake of procurement of technical papers and scientific proficiency in Manhattan Project’s Alsos Mission. IB and FIA were empowered, and their scope was increased globally during the 1970s.
ISI gained lost importance after the completion of an intelligence mission against the Soviet Union in 1980. This agency assisted ISI and IB in many ways during the 1990s. Furthermore, they prepared Islamic warriors, and FIA assisted them against the Soviet Union and the USA in Afghanistan.
They conducted one of history’s biggest intelligence investigations after attacks in the USA in 2001 and verified that the attackers are linked with Al – Qaida’s leader Osama Bin Laden. Federal Investigation Agency gained fame all over the world after investigating the 9/11 attacks in the United States of America, followed by another attack in 2001 in the USA. The efforts of both agencies were mentioned in a television series named “The Path to 9/11”.
Anti – violation Operations
Efforts were made against the violation of the copyright in 2001. In order to avoid copyright issues, the Copyright Ordinance 1962 was integrated into the offenses schedule of the Federal Investigation Agency. Furthermore, the largest video wholesale center in the country, The Rainbow Center, was raided under the command of the Interior ministry in 2005.
A spokesperson of IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) stated that the raid resulted in the sixty percent reduction of illegal sale of video materials in the center as well as the people started to sell mobiles and other electronic devices.
Access of FIA
The PISCES system has been established at airports of Peshawar, Multan, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, and Karachi, which plays a main role in providing information of the suspect from agencies including Intelligence, Narcotics, Police Anti–Smuggling and Immigration. The system was initiated by the US government against terrorism under the program of TIP (Terrorism Interdiction Program) for improving watch-listing capability in Pakistan.
FIA Controversies
Different controversies started when the agency started secret operations against political parties in Pakistan. They are also said to be involved in secret operations against BLLF (Bonded Labour Liberation Front) in 1990. FBI is also said to be involved in targeting the leftist groups in Pakistan and undertaking intelligence against Pakistan’s Communist Party in the case of Jam Saqi.
The agency investigated the two wings of the Federal Investigation Agency following the order of the Ministry of Justice and arrested as well as dismissed five immigration agents of this agency who were involved in the case of human trafficking in 2005.
FIA Director Generals
- Y. Orakzai 1974 – 75
- K Chaudhry 1975 – 77
- K. Hayat 1977 (Few Months)
- Mohammad Akram Sheikh 1977 (Few Months)
- Anwar 1977 (Few Months)
- Mohammad Aslam Hayat 1977 – 86
- Obaid Ur Rahman Khan 1986 – 89
- Syed Salman Khaliq 1989 – 90
- Wajahat Latif 1990 – 93
- Moin Ud Din 1993 (Few Months)
- R. Awan 1993 (Few Months)
- Sarosh Rawal Alvi 1993 – 94
- Ghulam Asghar Malik 1994 – 96
- Khawar Zaman 1996 – 97
- Mian Mohammad Amin 1997(Few Months)
- Inayat Ullah Khan Niazi 1997 – 98
- Iftikhar Ahmad Khan 1998 – 99
- Mushtaq Ahmad 1999(Few Months)
- Malik Asif Hayat 1999 – 2000
- Rafique Haider 2000 – 2001
- Syed Mohib Asad 2001 – 05
- Tariq Pervez 2005 – 09
- Tariq Masood Khosa 2009(Few Months)
- Zafar Ullah Khan 2009 – 10
- Waseem Ahmad 2010(Few Months)
- Malik M. Iqbal 2010 – 11
- Tehsin Anwar Ali Shah 2011 (Few Months)
- Javed Iqbal 2011 – 12
- Fayaz Ahmad Laghari 2012 (Few Months)
- Anwar Virk 2012 (Few Months)
- Saud Mirza 2012 – 13
- Ghalib Ali Bandesha 2013 – 14
- Akbar Khan Hoti 2014 – 16
- Amlish 2016 – 17
- Bashir Memon 2017 – 19
- Wajid Zia (Current D.G FIA)
- Waseem Khan (On – Service)
- Hamza Naseem (On – Service)
- Abdullah Malik (On – Service)
Social Media Handles
http://www.fia.gov.pk/en/index.php
https://www.facebook.com/CyberCrimeFIA/