The Foreign Office (FO) has claimed that it has nothing to do with why 164 retired military and civilian officials were paid pensions in foreign currency.
This was stated by FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch during her weekly media briefing.
She said this information was provided by the Foreign Office in response to a request under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2017, while the names of the pensioners in foreign currency were not provided keeping in view their privacy.
She suggested the Accountant General of Pakistan be contacted for a comment on why pension was being paid to certain individuals in foreign currency.
She further said 58,368 people have so far been taken from Pakistan to other countries, insisting that the Afghan transit trade was being misused.
According to recent media reports, the Foreign Ministry had, on a court query, provided information to an activist, who had filed an RTI request with the Pakistan Air Force, seeking details of retired air force officials living abroad and drawing pensions in foreign currency.
The activist had to knock on several doors for the information, including the Foreign Ministry, the Accountant General of Pakistan, Pakistan Information Commission, each of which refused. He then moved the Islamabad High Court, which notified each of the institutions, asking why the information was not provided.
In response, the ministry said there were 164 civil and military pensioners settled abroad and receiving monthly pensions in foreign currency. It further said that the annual expenditure under this head was Rs200 million.
