Mr. Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Finance) of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is retiring today after serving eight years and completing his two service terms.
Mr. Ghaznavi was appointed as Member Finance in 2005, after which he was granted second service term in 2009 on recommendations Dr. Yasin,then Chairman of PTA, as per PTA act.
Mr. Ghaznavi’s stay at PTA remained smooth and seamless for first six years. However, during last two years things went bumpy for him.
Back in 2011 his differences with Dr. Yasin, then Chairman of PTA, grew because of certain decisions that were taken by Dr. Yasin. The conflict widened and eventually Mr. Ghaznavi was suspended in April 2011 amid an inquiry that was initiated by Dr. Yasin.
Mr. Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi was later reinstated by Cabinet Division in August 2012, with approvals from Prime Minister of Pakistan at a time when Dr. Yasin was replaced by Muhammad Farooq Awan as Chairman of Authority.
Soon after this Mr. Ghaznavi was suspended again in October 2012 for reasons that were not made public, but he got re-instated with-in few days on orders of Islamabad High Court, which said that his suspension was illegal and overuse of rights by Cabinet Division.
In last quarter of 2012 Mr. Ghaznavi faced tremendous pressure from government to approve 3G Information Memorandum, however, he – along with Dr Khawar Siddique Khokhar, Member (technical) – took stand and didn’t approve the IM. Both the members were of the view that appointment of 3G consultants – who had prepared the IM – was illegal and not in accordance with law.
Since then Mr. Ghaznavi – and Dr. Khokhar, the Member (Tech) – were pressurized by the government. The whole episode reached to a level when both the members were even tried for abduction from their offices.
Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, who completed his service term today, was not coming to office lately after abduction attempt and other threats.
Mr. Ghaznavi is a civil servant from 1974 batch. He has been associated with telecom sector since 1992 and holds vast experience in the field of telecom with financial and regulatory affairs.
It merits mentioning here that Government of Pakistan had invited applications for filling Member (Finance) slot. However, later it changed the requirements and re-advertised the job.
Recent media reports suggest that government is trying to induct its favourites as Members and Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
It would be interesting to note here that late evening rumours today said that government has appointed Mr. Muhammad Farooq Awan (ex-chairman of PTA) as Member Finance. We will keep our readers posted as soon as we get confirmations on this.
What a game played by the government & Mr. Muhammad Farooq Awan. Since his appointment as PTA Chairman has been declared null and void, he has been eagerly trying to find ways to get back on the seat.
The signs were very obvious and precise and majority is aware of that. His first move is: Appointment as Member Finance.. I’ll tell you the next move: Promoted as PTA Chairman!!
How are we going to progress as a developed country when corrupt & ignorant people like these are on top? Sad to see this.. Thanks to Mr. Man’s Best Friend, appointing anyone he likes to all the key posts which he can then control.
Good decision :p Just give us 3g.
In my opinion, 3G won’t be coming anytime soon.
Why? I thought its coming next month? In march isn’t it?
Sir with all these complications going on, not any time soon… I might be wrong, but as far as my sources assert.. It’ll take at least another couple of months for this to settle!
Oh i respect predictions.. But i hope it doesn’t happen. We can’t afford another delay :( I hope Pakistan wouldn’t loose million dollars this time
If we don’t spend the money, we don’t lose any of it.
Yeah right actually .. But we should try as you know Afghanistan Also has got 3G already.
Aamir Bhai! I wonder why you don’t add a tagging system to the website. It’s very difficult to find posts on a particular topic on propakistani.pk. I know that I can use google but that’s not accurate enough. A tagging system would be very useful since the database of posts on propakistani.pk has grown very large.
I hope you see my comment.
PdA has fallen down from the days of glory during the days of General Shahzada as PTA Chairman. The members he had appointed were totally incompetent and eversince this government came to power the baaboos have made sure that PTA should be a subservient department.
When incompetent people like Dr. Yaseen, Nasrul K. Ghaznavi and Khawar Siddique Khokhar are to lead PTA then hounds of Farooq Awan’s sort will always take advantage.
PTA should be allowed to function as an independent Authority and should not be placed under the control of baaboos who have no idea of the way the new world works.
After completion of Deregulation, in 2004, Mr Ghanavi Joined PTA replacing Mr. Naimutullah. Soon after induction of Mr. Ghaznavi, both Industry and GOVT realized that PTA is in hand of an incompetent member. A numbe
r of disputes arose between Indstry and PTA resulting in multiple litigation. Today over 400 cases are pending in High Courts. Over all it was a dark period of long 8 years for PTA. Thank God its finally over. Expect Govt will now select a competent person