Ottawa – May 27, 2021 : Pakistan High Commissioner to Canada Raza Bashir Tarar has described a record and unprecedented surge in remittances up to US$ 24.2 billion sent by overseas Pakistanis back home in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as a vote of confidence in the government and its policies.

He made this statement while addressing an e-katchehry-cum-public forum organised online for the Pakistanis living in Canada for redress of their issues and addressing their concerns about consular services and other community related issues. Consul General of Pakistan Toronto Abdul Hameed, Consul General of Pakistan Vancounver Janbaz Khan and Consul General of Pakistan Montreal Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmad Aqil also attended the forum and answered queries of the participants.

Raza Bashir Tarar assured the community that in in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and regular advice and guidance from Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan High Commission and its Consulates in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal would continue to provide prompt consular services to the community. He said the love of overseas Pakistanis for Pakistan and their contribution to the development of the country was valued at all levels of the government in Pakistan.

The High Commissioner emphasized that Pakistan’s Missions in Canada had provided adequate services notwithstanding the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than letting the pandemic be a recipe for inaction, technology and out-of-box thinking was employed to provide uninterrupted consular services.

He reiterated that while e-katchehry was held once every month, Pakistanis were welcome to approach the High Commission and its Consulates any time any day for resolution of their issues and contact details of officials had also been circulated in this regard. He also urged the community members to register themselves with the Pakistan High Commission for planning consular services in view of their number and presence in different regions in Canada.  

During the e-katchehry that followed, several issues including duties of Consulate Generals of Pakistan, directory of Pakistani professionals, digital transformation, service delivery of Pakistani institutions, alerting overseas Pakistanis in fake housing projects, transportation of dead bodies in COVID times, discontinuation of the PIA flights and online processing of passports and tourism issue came up for discussion and the High Commissioner and his team answered the queries.