News
Monday, April 29, 2013
Senate to probe irregularities in Foreign Ministry appointmentsBy Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The scams surfaced during the last tenure of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government continue to haunt it, as in a latest development Senate Panel will take up the matter of alleged violation of criteria in regularisation of employees by the Foreign Ministry, headed by the then External Affairs Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar.
The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed by Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel decided to hold meeting of the committee on Tuesday on this issue along with the taking up the similar case regarding the irregularities in appointment of 44 trade officers in Foreign Missions of Pakistan.
The 12-member Senate Panel include PPP’s Jahnagir Badar, Farhatullah Babar, Sehar Kamran, Ch. Aitezaz Ahsan, Syed Sughra Imam. The committee has also representation from PML-N’ Ishaq Dar, PML-Q’s Syed Mushahid Hussain Syed and other political parties.
According to details, during the last days of PPP in office, a massive regularisation exercise was undertaken in the Foreign Ministry when its minister Hina Rabbani of PPP regularised 117 employees in her ministry. The interesting fact surfaced during the regularisation that majority of beneficiaries belonged to Muzzafargarh, the hometown of Hina Rabbani where she was elected as member of the National Assembly on PPP ticket. The media reports suggested that these employees of Foreign Office were regularised despite they failure to meet the prescribed criteria while the concerned authorities kept on bypassing it during the exercise.
Similarly, the irregularities in the appointments of 44 trade officers, mentioned by Senate of Pakistan in its notice for holding of meeting in Foreign Missions of Pakistan is another scam of former PPP government that will be taken up by the committee for probe.
According to details, envisaged in a petition in the court, these trade officers were selected purely on political basis by flouting merits and rules and procedures required for such appointments.
According to sources in the Senate, the committee decided to take up these issues after reports in print and electronic media about alleged appointments in the PPP regime.
According to a senator, who requested anonymity, said the PPP had such dismal record during its previous regime wherein big financial scams were reported along with massive corruption. “Senate Panel will thoroughly go through these cases and try to fix responsibility”, he added.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk