ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari launched global ‘Automation of Power of Attorney (PoA)’ on Tuesday to facilitate overseas Pakistanis with online and upgraded consular services.

“The future belongs to technology and its utilisation will ensure enhanced performance, better service delivery and transparency,” he said at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He expressed confidence that the launch of the initiative would help the country’s foreign missions in enhancing the consular services. The foreign minister stressed the need for launching similar initiatives to facilitate a large number of people visiting the Foreign Office for the consular facilities.

FM Bilawal lauded the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) for its latest tech initiatives in the past.

FM Bilawal described it as “great achievement” of Nadra for the facilitation of expatriates and Pakistani missions abroad. He expressed hope that this service will also be available at the foreign office in future.

After the launch, Nadra Chairman Muhammad Tariq Malik said the facility would be available in 197 countries for overseas Pakistanis. “The launch of Digital Power of Attorney will enable overseas Pakistanis to avail this facility online that would save their time and money as well,” he said.

How it works

Online video facility has also been provided in this process to make the record accessible in courts, he said, adding that for this purpose the authority has developed modern software, Radio Pakistan reported. All legal obstacles for this purpose were achieved with the collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he added.

Overseas Pakistanis could apply and obtain a PoA from the convenience of their homes, without having to physically visit a Pakistan Foreign Mission which may be located at a significant distance.

Under the facility, according to officials, an applicant would get access to the PoA Portal to create their account by providing their email address along with other details. Once successfully signed up and authenticated, the executor can lodge PoA by submitting the required documents.

Before submitting an online PoA application, the applicant must be an overseas Pakistani residing abroad.

Punjab Assembly elections

A meeting chaired by the Punjab governor to discuss provincial assembly elections decided that the Lahore High Court will be approached for clarity on setting election date.

Officials from the Election Commission attended the meeting along with Punjab’s Chief Secretary Zahid Zaman and IG Police Usman Anwar.

The meeting decided that the court should be asked for ‘clarity’ on how to proceed towards elections in the light of the latest judgement. There was no progress towards fixing a date in the meeting.

The Lahore High Court had ruled on Friday that the ECP should announce dates for election in the province. The governor had previously refused to give a date for the election and asked the ECP to take security considerations in to view before organising polls.

However, the court asked the ECP to announce the dates after discussions with the governor. A month has already passed since the dissolution of the assembly, while the constitution says that elections must be held in 90 days.

The governor has said that he will ‘exercise his legal right’ in the matter.

On the other hand the PTI is already gearing up to award tickets for the upcoming elections. While the party has said that Imran Khan will himself supervise the process so the party’s loyal and ideological workers are kept at the forefront, news reports have suggested that many people who are jumping ship from other parties, especially PML-N will contest on PTI’s symbol.

The Pakistan People’s Party has also set its foot into the political foray with another call for consensus between political parties. The PDM, who the PPP is allied with, had announced a multi-party conference and extended invites to the PTI regarding a similar agreement.

However, the PTI has reportedly shunned the PPP’s offer just as it had refused to attend the multi-party conference. Being the only major opposition party, the PTI’s participation and agreement will be crucial for any meeting to be classifed as a broad consensus.