Tag Archives: chief

Disgruntled jiyala: PPP Balochistan chief quits post

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QUETTA: 

Provincial president of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Mir Saddiq Umrani on Tuesday resigned from his post on account of grievances against leadership.

Umrani said he stays loyal to the ideology of slain leader Benazir Bhutto and would continue her mission in the party he has been affiliated with for the past 33 years.

Talking to journalists, Umrani said he had tendered his resignation to party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and President Asif Ali Zardari. Umrani said incompetence of party leadership led to his resignation. “The party leadership did nothing to resolve the issues of Balochistan when it came to power in 2008,” Umrani said.

“Wrong policies of PPP led to its defeat in the province,” he said. He also accused the election commission of changing the final result of PB-28, leading to his defeat in the polls and murder of dozens of voters by unknown persons.

He said that many polling stations came under attack in his constituency and his voters were kept away from the polling process, adding that 90% of women were kept away from voting and he had registered FIRs in many police stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2013.


Confusion: ‘Polio cell chief became victim of departmental scuffle’

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ISLAMABAD: A jurisdiction tussle between the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) and Prime Minister’s secretariat is the main reason behind the removal of chief of PM’s Monitoring and Coordination Cell for polio Dr Altaf Bosan, an official claimed on Tuesday.

The confusion surfaced when in December 2012 the Emergency Polio Plan was implemented by Ministry of IPC while the activities were monitored by PM’s polio cell.

Talking to The Express Tribune the official said that the ministry wanted to give additional responsibility of monitoring the coverage of routine immunisation to PM’s polio cell.

Hence, IPC Secretary Faridullah Khan, after international donors’ assent, issued a notification in this regard and sent it to PM secretariat, informed the official.

However, the PM secretariat did not concur and termed it a misuse of powers, asking the IPC secretary to withdraw the notification as he was unauthorised to so without the PM secretariat’s approval, the official stated. He added that in between this tussle, the PM secretariat sacked Dr Altaf Bosan.

When The Express Tribune tried to contact Dr Bosan he was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile the IPC secretary declined to discuss the issue as “highlighting it could become controversial”. He refused to comment saying that he is a government employee and is not authorised to talk to the press.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2013.


Dignified exit: National Book Foundation chief resigns

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ISLAMABAD: 

Mazharul Islam, writer and folklorist, resigned as the chief of the National Book Foundation (NBF) on Monday citing the upcoming change in federal government as the main reason for his decision to quit.

Islam was appointed as NBF’s managing director (MD) in April 2009 by the Pakistan Peoples Party government and his contract was extended in 2012 for a further two years. “There are no special reasons for my resignation,” he told The Express Tribune. “Since I was appointed as a contractual employee by the previous government, I decided new people should get a chance.”

Islam, who is the author of 10 books including a novel, said he sent his resignation to the cabinet secretary on Monday. The resignation is yet to be accepted.

He was the second literary personality to head the NBF, established by the government in 1972 to provide affordable books to the public and to promote both book reading and the publishing industry. The famous poet late Ahmed Faraz was Islam’s predecessor.

During his three year-tenure, Islam helped revive the performance of the struggling organisation. He began new projects such as a mobile book library, subsidised book stalls at railway stations, the “Prisoners’ Free Minds Book Club” in three jails and book clubs in 10 remote areas including Tharparkar. The NBF’s Book Ambassador programme, which involved famous writers and actors such Intezar Husain and Qavi Khan to promote book reading among the public, also started under Islam’s time in office.

Islam also got former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani’s approval to build a book museum, which is under construction at the NBF building in the capital. He also started the tradition of National Book Day, which was first held on April 22 last year. The 2013 National Book Day celebrations included a book fair, activities for children and reading sessions where famous writers read from their books and discussed their writing with the audience.

Islam said once his resignation is accepted, he would work on a book of short stories. But he also has a special project in mind. “I want to form folklore societies for children so those who do not have access to heritage museums can also get an opportunity to learn about Pakistan’s folk history and cultural heritage,” he said.

Poet Amjad Islam Amjad, who is also a book ambassador, appreciated the work done by Islam. “I think he did a great job in reviving an institution that had become dormant,” Amjad said. “The credit for organising the National Book Day and for the enthusiasm it generated among the public must go to Islam and his team.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2013.


Eradication drive suffers: Caretaker PM removes polio cell chief (National)

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ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan’s anti-polio campaign received a fresh blow when Caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso dismissed the national coordinator for the Prime Minister’s Polio Cell Dr Altaf Bosan.

According to a notification issued by the Prime Minister Secretariat a copy of which was made available to The Express Tribune, Bosan has been repatriated to the National Health Institute (NIH), his parent department, with immediate effect. Bosan had been working in the polio cell since its establishment in 2011.

Reacting to the news, acting representative of World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Nima Saeed Abid said, “Dr Boson has been removed during a time when the Pakistan polio eradication programme is passing through a transitional period. However, his appointment is a government decision. We were satisfied by his overall performance.”

According to sources, international donors raised concerns over the sudden removal of Dr Boson and expressed fear that it may hamper the continuity of the national polio eradication programme. These fears, expressed during internal discussions, reflected the fact that the polio eradication campaign is at a ‘make or break stage’ and any delay could hamper the overall efforts made under the programme thus far.

An official working closely with the polio cell, on condition of anonymity, said that it was not the caretaker government’s mandate to transfer officials as their primary role was to conduct free and fair elections.

The official added that no one has been appointed in place of Bosan, due to which the cell is unable to continue performing its routine operations. The polio cell was established with the financial assistance of international donors. Every year the cell undertakes polio eradication activities across the country. The prime objective of this cell is to liaise with international donors and monitor the polio campaign.

According to the official, the removal of the head of the cell will dent efforts in the fight against polio, which is one of the major challenges currently facing the country.

“At present all the eyes are set on Pakistan as it remains one of only three countries in the world where polio still exists, therefore such decisions by the government give a negative impression to the world and show a lack of seriousness in fulfilling our international obligations to eradicate polio,” said the official.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2013.


Balochistan politics: National Party backs plan to install PML-N chief minister

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ISLAMABAD / QUETTA: 

The National Party (NP) president, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, has said that the new chief minister should be from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which enjoys majority in the Balochistan Assembly.

The Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Awami National Party and NP have thrown their weight behind the PML-N for the formation of the new provincial government.

“The mainstream national-level parties will be in a better position to resolve the issues confronting Balochistan. We hope the Centre will not neglect our province,” Baloch told a news conference in Quetta on Saturday. He was referring to the PML-N.

“Balochistan is passing through a critical juncture. In the past, national-level parties did not bother to study the myriad of problems in Balochistan, its local politics and parties,” he added.  “If the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif fail to break away from the tradition, the problems of Balochistan will multiply.”

Baloch called for synchronised efforts from politicians, intellectuals and the media to restore peace and normalcy in the province.

At the news conference, independent MPA-elect from PB-47 Washuk Mir Mujeebur Rehman, along with his supporters, joined the NP.

Baloch revealed that his party had tried to form an electoral alliance with Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s Balochistan National Party-Mengal but it couldn’t materialise. Mengal has rejected the election results while doubting the whole electoral process which, he alleges, was fixed by the ‘establishment’.

International establishment

While Mengal accuses the Pakistani establishment for his party’s poor performance in the elections, another political leader claims that a much greater force, the ‘international establishment’, was behind Pakistan Peoples Party’s rout from Balochistan.

Surprisingly, the PPP, which ruled Balochistan for five years with the help of its allies, could not win even a single seat in the May 11 elections.

“The PPP was punished in the elections by the international establishment because of its deals with China and Iran on Gwadar Port and IP gas pipeline, respectively,” PPP Vice President Mir Baz Khan Khetran told a news conference in Islamabad.

Khetran alleged that he was defeated by design in NA-263. He alleged that three colonels presently serving in the Frontier Corps were involved in rigging in his constituency and changed election results in favour of JUI-F candidate.

According to him, FC officers took away the ballot boxes and changed the results in connivance with the local deputy commissioners. “The elections were free, but not fair,” he added. He claimed that some forces did not want to see Baloch leaders in parliament and wanted to bring alternative faces.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.