Ongoing difference between ICT R&D Fund directors and Mr. Latif Khan Khosa reached its highest level when six out of 12 directors were shown the door for not complying with Minister’s urge of appointing Mr. Azhar Manzoor as the ICT R&D Fund Chairman, reported Sama TV.
Mr. Manzoor is the brother-in-law of Prime Minister’s Adviser on Information Technology Latif Khosa.
According to a notification issued by the Information Technology Ministry 6 were terminated with immediate effect. Named include:
Sources say the slot of the chairman of ICTR&D Fund was lying vacant, which Latif Khosa tried to fill, recommending his brother in-law for this position.
HRGC (Human Resource Governance Committee) received applications from multiple candidates including the brother-in-law of Mr. Khosa, as reported by sources in fund.
Mr. Manzoor had presented his MBA degree without mentioning the institute. On inquiry, it was found that he had graduated from some “Canadian Management Institute”, which actually was a fake and non-existent university, as HEC has said that it does not recognize this institute; in fact it does not exist at all, told us sources familiar with situation.
On this, out of 12, six directors refused to approve Azhar Manzoor’s name as the Chairman of ICTR&DF, after which they were fired with immediate effect.
We were unable to collect Minister’s viewpoint on the issue.
It merits mentioning here that ICT R&D Fund is run by a set amount of revenue share offered by telecom companies. It offers funding to local universities and firms for research and development projects.
