The office of the Pakistan’s auditor general pointed out Rs102 million worth of ‘irregular’ payments made by the ministry of petroleum and natural resources to Pakistan Rangers for security of pipelines of gas distributors in remote areas.
During the scrutiny of the accounts of Pakistan’s petroleum ministry, the director general audit identified that the ministry had paid Rs102m to Punjab and Sindh Rangers “for the security duty for protection of sites of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited respectively.”
The audit, however, objected that the payments were made on the basis of an agreement between Pakistan Rangers and the ministry of petroleum but neither a copy of the contract nor concurrence to it by the ministry of finance was provided.
It further raised objection to the payment to contractors — Mehmood & Brothers and Barki Traders — since there was no document for the award of contract for the procurement of services from these private companies.
According to the audit report, “evidence regarding deduction of income tax on hiring of vehicles and other charges was not available in the record”.
Subsequently, the audit was of the view that in the absence of record the authenticity of the expenditure could not be ascertained. It recommended “immediate production of relevant record besides fixing of responsibility for irregular payment”.
Public Accounts Committee chairman Syed Khursheed Shah wanted to settle the audit objection at the very outset and soon after the auditor presented this audit para, he said, “subject to verification”.
The deputy financial adviser of the ministry informed the committee that it was in 2003 when the then prime minister issued direction to the petroleum ministry for hiring Rangers for the protection of the pipelines network in remote areas of Punjab and Sindh.
He said the cost of Rangers deployment was being shared by the federal government, distribution companies and the province concerned till 2015. Then Punjab refused to contribute for Rangers and the matter was then referred to the Council of Common Interests.
About Pakistan rangers
The Pakistan Rangers are a paramilitary law enforcement organization in Pakistan and have a primary mission of securing Pakistan's International Border (IB) with India in peace as well as war time, but are also employed in internal security operations, and providing assistance to the police in maintaining law and order.
Rangers is an umbrella term for the Pakistan Rangers -Punjab, headquartered in Lahore, responsible for guarding Punjab Province's 1,300 km long IB with India, and the Pakistan Rangers -Sindh, headquartered in Karachi, defending Sindh Province's ~912 km long IB with India. The forces operate under their own separate chains of command and wear distinct uniforms.
Rangers are formally supervised by Special Security Unit, National Crises Management Cell, in the federal Ministry of Interior, but are commanded by officers on secondment from the Pakistan Army. As part of the Civil Armed Forces the Rangers can come under the operational control of army corps headquarters, not just in war time, but whenever Article 245 of the Pakistani Constitution is invoked to provide 'military aid to civil power', for example in Karachi since 2015, and in Punjab since February 2017. The Force is governed by Rangers Ordinance 1959.