Five senior consultants
of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) have resigned
showing lack of confidence in the bureau’s leadership.
However, a NRB source when contacted said this development
was the consequence of government’s move to cut
hefty salaries of the bureau’s consultants by 40
per cent.
Advance resignation notices have been issued to NRB Chairman
Danial Aziz, who has been informed that the estranged
consultants would not be attending the office after December
28, 2004.
These consultants are Zulfiqar Qureshi, former inspector-general
Punjab and ex-federal secretary, Dr Anwarul Haq Siddiqi,
former vice-chancellor, Quaid-i-Azam University, Professor
Laiq Ahmad, Brigadier (retd) Hafizullah Khan, and Colonel
(retd) Ghulam Rasool.
Qureshi was working on police reform. With his departure
the police reform think tank of the NRB would be completely
drained as Dr ZU Khan, who was working with the bureau
as police expert, had already left. Siddiqi was hired
for the bureau’s pay and pension cell, which has
now no other consultant.
Professor Laiq Ahmed was also the lone member of the media
and government cell of the NRB. Whereas Brig (retd) Hafeezullah
and Col (retd) Ghulam Rasool were looking after the civil
service reforms.
In their resignations, according to one of these consultants,
they had referred to uncongenial atmosphere of the Bureau.
They also pointed out that the existing salary structure
of the Bureau’s consultants is discriminatory.
The consultant source said the bureau had been divided
into favourites and non-favourites. "We were among
the non-favorites so were not given any significant assignment
ever since the former NRB chief retired general Tanvir
Hussain Naqvi left," the source said, adding that
the present NRB leadership was more interested in publicity
than output.
He demanded of the government to conduct a special audit
of the NRB spending to ascertain as to what was the output
of the NRB and at what cost. The government must probe
to assess the volume of the public money that had gone
down the drain.
While confirming that five consultants have tendered their
resignations, the NRB source said the departing consultants
were leaving the bureau because of monitory reasons.
The bureau source said all consultants of the NRB were
told that due to financial constraints their hefty salaries
were required to be cut by 40 per cent. The five consultants,
he said, did not agree to this cut so decided to leave
the organisation.
The NRB source also confirmed that there was hardly anything
the departing consultants had contributed during the last
several months. But, the official had no answer when asked
as to why were they then not relieved earlier.
With the departure of these five consultants, the NRB
is now left with only three foreign funded consultants
including Brig (retd) Salim, Riaz Khan and Adnan Shah.
Recently, in a written statement, a former NRB consultant
Dr Mir Ajmal Hamid, who had also resigned while protesting
against the Bureau leadership, had said that the Bureau
was now focused on glitzy workshops and media conferences
instead of doing serious work. He claimed that he had
left after finding the organisation drifting from its
raison d’etre.
