The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has punished 214 officers over the last four months of 2025 following complaints related to human trafficking, corruption, indiscipline, and inefficiency, officials said.

 

 

According to details, 76 officers were dismissed from service, nine were demoted to lower ranks, two were removed, while disciplinary action of varying nature was taken against 127 others. The punishments followed departmental inquiries involving officers from the rank of constable to deputy director.

 

 

A senior FIA official said the scope of internal action was expanded after the establishment of the Directorate of Internal Accountability (DIA) at FIA headquarters in August 2025. Similar accountability structures were later set up at the zonal level under zonal directors.

 

 

The accountability mechanism was strengthened after boat incidents in Europe and Africa in which Pakistani nationals lost their lives the official said, adding that a high-level inquiry revealed the involvement of some FIA personnel in human smuggling.

 

 

The official also referred to the International Monetary Fund’s report titled Pakistan: Governance and Corruption Diagnostic, published in November 2025, which pointed to corruption in public departments as a factor behind institutional inefficiency.

 

 

To address the issue, FIA Director General Riffat Mukhtar Raja delegated accountability powers to additional director generals of the North and South zones and to zonal directors.

 

 

Officials said an online technology module was developed for the DIA to track inquiries from the receipt of complaints to disposal, including the appeal stage. The system allows senior officers to internally monitor the progress of cases. 

 

 

As part of the accountability drive, 214 departmental inquiries were concluded. The official said 20 percent of punishments were related to immigration complaints, another 20 percent involved faulty investigations, while 40 percent concerned indiscipline and inefficiency. 

 

 

The FIA currently operates 12 zones across the country, from Gilgit-Baltistan to Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Azad Jammu and Kashmir does not fall under its jurisdiction.

 

 

Officials said a major change involved consolidating all complaint-related processes, including preliminary, fact-finding, and departmental inquiries, under one directorate. The process was moved out of the FIA’s human resource department to avoid concentration of authority under a single office.