A special audit of the Punjab Home Department has exposed massive financial irregularities in the handling of secret funds, with over Rs550 million unaccounted for, according to the Auditor General of Pakistan’s (AGP) report for the fiscal year 2024–25.
The audit found that the department failed to produce utilization records for secret expenditures, raising serious concerns about financial transparency and accountability. A significant chunk of the discrepancy—Rs404.2 million—was linked to the accounts of the Additional Inspector General (IG) of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab.
In addition, irregular spending worth Rs99.5 million was reported in the accounts of the Home Department’s Secretary, pointing to mismanagement at the highest levels of administration.
The report also flagged questionable transactions involving the Additional IG Punjab and various District Police Officers (DPOs) from Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Okara, Hafizabad, Sahiwal, and Gujrat, along with the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the CTD.
Despite multiple audit requests, the concerned departments failed to provide audit cards or any supporting documentation to justify how the secret service funds were utilized.
The findings suggest widespread financial mismanagement across multiple tiers of Punjab’s security and administrative apparatus, raising red flags about the lack of oversight in handling sensitive public funds.
Impact of Social Media on Political Polarisation in Pakistan
Before the advent of social media, it was print media—newspapers and magazines—that shaped public opinion. The book Impact of Social Media on Political Polarisation in Pakistan launched by Islamabad Policy Research Institute(IPRI) is a thorough study of how platforms like Twitter (now X), Instagram, and Facebook have become forces that shape political narratives, allegiances, and divides in the country. The researchers used both qualitative interviews and quantitative data (Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient) to gauge agreement with the claim that “Social media has made the political sphere in Pakistan more polarized.”
