The Federal Investigation Agency has stepped into a growing dispute at the Engineering Development Board. A team visited the board’s office and asked for official records on several policies and recruitments. The visit has sharpened the clash over EDB used car imports. The board’s chief executive and the Ministry of Industries and Production remain bitterly divided.
At the centre of the row sits the reopening of commercial imports, which the ministry wants to hold back. Sources told Propakistani that the notification came without the approval of the competent authority. Moreover, questions have surfaced over an alleged link between importers and the current chief executive.
The matter has reached the courts as well. The Prime Minister, acting on a two-member committee’s advice, ended the chief executive’s contract. However, the executive secured a stay order from the Islamabad High Court and returned to work.
The latest notification arrived on Wednesday and changed the rules for commercial importers. Proprietorships and partnership firms with valid tax registrations can now import used vehicles for sale. Earlier rules demanded incorporated companies with minimum capital, but the new framework drops both. The notification still keeps the 62 UNECE safety and environmental regulations in place.
The inspection process has changed as well. Importers must now obtain a pre-shipment certificate from an accredited inspection body that works with the standards authority. The same company’s local representative will verify the documents once the vehicle reaches Pakistan. Instead of the earlier third-party check at a board facility, the new system relies on that single inspector.
Sources estimate that roughly 15,000 used vehicles sit at Karachi Port and could clear under the new framework. Meanwhile, critics warn that weak post-shipment checks could create safety and compliance risks.
The Economic Coordination Committee had earlier deferred the matter and asked for more work on the inspection system. Federal Minister Musadik Malik leads a committee that is working to settle the dispute over standards and inspection powers. He reportedly argues that imports should stay shut until the committee reports to the Prime Minister. Still, the notification went ahead.
Attention has also turned to the officer who signed the notification. Sources describe him as close to the chief executive and say authorities ordered him to report to the Establishment Division. Despite that order, he reportedly still sat in the board’s office on Thursday. Sources also allege that he worked at the board without the ministry’s approval.
Investigators are now examining the role of officials who allegedly have links to former senior ministry officials. The board must additionally submit a report on the matter to the Prime Minister. Finally, an adviser to the ministry reportedly said months ago that the rules should follow UNECE standards. Whatever the committee decides, the fight over EDB used car imports now sits squarely with the Prime Minister.
