Fate of bureaucrats hangs in balance

Consolidated list of NRO beneficiaries to be submitted to SC once verification is done, says PM Secretariat.

ISLAMABAD: At a time when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has asked NRO beneficiaries to resign ‘voluntarily’ the fate of dozens of serving bureaucrats as well as key politicians hangs in the balance.

Although many beneficiaries of the now-scrapped law are holding key offices in the federal and provincial governments, whose names were made public last year, the prime minister’s secretariat said on Sunday that it will be submitting a consolidated list of NRO beneficiaries to the apex court once the verification process is completed.

“The office of the Prime Minister has still not received an authentic and verified list of the NRO beneficiaries from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. The list would be made public as soon as it is received by this office to avoid speculation. The verified list would subsequently be submitted before the honorable Supreme Court,” said a statement issued by the PM Secretariat.

There will be two separate lists: one containing the names of top public office holder politicians and technocrats and the other containing the names of government servants.

On his directions the Establishment Division has prepared a preliminary list containing 73 names of government servants who are still serving or very recently retired from different departments and ministries working under the federal government.

According to this list, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, 31 public servants who benefited from the now defunct law are still working in different cadres in different departments, especially in the Federal Board of Revenue and Auditor General of Pakistan.

Forty-two officials in the list that carried some big names of bureaucrats have recently been retired. The Establishment Division has submitted the list to Prime Minister Gilani who has forwarded these names to the law ministry for further verification. The list continued to state that the Federal Board of Revenue employees are 24. Their names include: Collector Custom Muhammad Nawaz Butt, Assistant Collector Muhammad Ali Changezi, Inspector Custom Khalid Aziz, Collector Adjudication Customs Javed Iqbal Mirza, Ex-Regional Commissioner of Income Tax Abrar Ahmad, Superintendent Dry Port Customs Muhammad Saleem, Assistant Collector Customs Asim Majeed and Khizar Iqbal, Appraising Officer Naseerud Din, Principal Appraisar Sakhi Muhammad, Appraising Officer Customs Qasim Pervaiz, Deputy Superintendents (retd) Nazir Ahmad and Qazi Naveed Ahmad, AC Custom (retd) Khalifa Abdul Qayyum, Superintendent Custom (retd) Aslam Bajwa, Principal Appraiser Custom Qazi Afzaal Hussain, UDC Income Tax Muhammad Usman, LDC Income Tax Arshad Mehmood, AC Custom Javid Iqbal Mirza, Inspector Custom Sarwar Akhtar, Accounts Officer Muhammad Sarwar, Superintendent Custom Muhammad Younis Butt, Inspector Customs Sher Dad Khan and Sajjid Hussain.

There are 20 officials of Auditor General of Pakistan who had been facilitated under the NRO in 2007-08. They are: Ex-Senior Auditors Muneer-ud-Din Chaudhry, Syed Javid Iqbal, Irshad Hussain, Ex-Account Officer Mirza Muhammad Ayub, Assistant Superintendent Abdul Razzaq Bhatti, Ex-Counter Clerk Mehr Sajjad Ahmad, Ex-Account Officer Mukhtar Ahmad, Ex-Account Officer Muhammad Iqbal Shah, Account Officer Shahamat Ali, Ex-Account Officer Muhammad Shafiq, Ex-Junior Auditor Syed Muzzafar Hussain, Typist Tariq Mehmood, Assistant Audit Officer Hanif Ahmad Rahi, Senior Auditors Abbas Ali, Muhammad Safdar Hussain and Junior CM Ibrar Hussain.

The list further cites the names of the employees of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited who also got relief under this law introduced by then president Pervez Musharraf. They are: Ex-Chairman OGDCL (the late) Riffat Askari, Ex-Executive Director Jaffar Mohmand, Ex-GM Production Khalid Rahim, Ex-AMs Muzzafarul Hassan, Khalid Subhani, Ex-Chief Procurement Capt Nazir Ahmad, Ex-Chief Internal Audit Muhammad Ishaq, Ex-AGM Finance Qammar Saeed Awan, Ex-Principal Project Najmul Hassan Naqvi, Ex-Chief Procurement Muhammad Israil Khan, Ex-Manager Bashir Ahmed Bhatti, Ex-ED Ain-un-Din Siddique.

The officials of Capital Development Authority (CDA) were also not far behind in getting benefits under the NRO. Their names are Assistant Director Manzoor Hussain Shah, Ex-Accountant Officer Attaullah Khan, Ex-Patwaris Muzzamal Hussain and Muhammad Farooq, Naib Tahsildar Taramat Hussain.

Besides, the officials of Port Qasim Authority also profited from this law. They are: Ex-DGMs Irshad Ahmad Sheikh, Sahib Dad Mangal, Ex-Manager Abdul Hakeem Makhdoom, XENs Civil Pir Bux Solangi and Hamzo Khan Gabol.

Officers of the Ministry of Minorities were also involved in this deal. They were: Ex-Administrator Maj (retd) Rashid Khan and one Anis Alam.

Names of two retired officers of the Ministry of Housing and Works also appear on the list signed by Secretary Establishment Division Ismail Qureshi. The names are: Ex-Director General Iqbal Ahmed and Ex-Executive Engineer Murid Ahmad Baloch.

The name of a retired officer of Pak-Arab Refinery Limited, Amjad Hussain Sadhal, also makes it to the list.

Secretary Establishment Ismail Qureshi told The Express Tribune that there were two lists carrying more than 270 serving officials, including some 15 top officials of ruling political parties. He was of the view that the lists were completed and approved by the prime minister last week.

Premier Gilani had directed the Establishment Division last week to compile a list of NRO beneficiaries holding public offices.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2010.