ISLAMABAD: Even after 10 months, the information ministry run by the Pakistan Muslim League-N government has failed to redress violations committed in foreign postings of its officers by the previous Pakistan People’s Party government.
During the last days in power, the then Prime Minister Pervez Ashraf on March 14, 2013, approved the posting of 15 ministry officers in foreign missions of the country as press ministers, counsellors and attaches.
Since obvious breaches were committed in the selection process, the PML-N soon after coming to power stopped the chosen officers from proceeding abroad. Information Minister Senator Pervez Rashid had decided to review the whole selection process.
However, in a recent summary sent to the prime minister office, the information ministry only sought de-notification of four of these appointments. The rest of them have been recommended to go ahead with their earlier selection.
Surprisingly, in the summary it has been accepted that “certain deviations from the prescribed criteria for the selection of press officers” were made by the previous government. It said ministry officials selected for missions in UK (Shafqat Jalil), New York (Masood Anwar), Washington (Dr Najeeb Khan) and Tehran (Mohammad Asim) were picked despite the fact that they didn’t complete their mandatory three-year stay in Pakistan since their last foreign posting.
Second deviation, according to the summary, was the selection of senior officers against positions meant for junior officers in New York (Masood Anwar), Brussels (Nasir Jamal), Paris (Shiraz Latif), Ankara (Ambreen Gul) and Kuwait (Mohammad Asim).
The summary recommended fresh selection process for the posting in Brussels, Paris, Ankara and Kuwait since the ministry of finance had refused to upgrade these positions.
Interestingly, for an officer, who was appointed in New York and fell in the same category of appointments where senior officers were chosen against junior positions, the ministry has sought an entirely different treatment. The officer left for New York before the present government could stop him.
The ministry in the summary said: “The case of Masood Anwar, who is a grade-20 officer and was selected for New York against the lower grade position, needs further examination.” On the directive of the then Prime Minister, he was allowed by the ministry to proceed to New York.
INTERNEWS
