Federal Cabinet Likely to Appoint Chairman PTA Today

The federal cabinet is all set appoint new chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) today.

The cabinet meeting is scheduled for Thursday and will meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair. The body will consider a summary of the Cabinet Division for the appointment of chairman PTA amongst the three members.

The Cabinet division has submitted a summary to the federal cabinet which includes the names of all the three members including Major Gen (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa (Member Technical), Dr. Khawar Saddique Khokhar (Member Compliance) and Mohammad Naveed (Member Finance).

All the three members of PTA are reportedly in the run and lobbying for the lucrative slot of PTA chairmanship.

The federal cabinet, in the last week of December, approved the appointment of Major Gen (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa — former Director General Special Communication Organization (SCO) – as Member, and Dr. Khawar Saddique Khokhar as Member Compliance.

The previous government of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) had appointed Mohammad Naveed as Member Finance of PTA and was given the additional charge of chairman.

A summary was supposed to be sent by the Cabinet Division to the federal cabinet which met last Thursday. However, at the eleventh hour, it was decided to further discuss the matter.

As witnessed in the past, Member Technical is usually the chairman of the authority. Soon after taking the charge, new Member Technical is sitting in the chairman office and the capital is rift with the speculations that he may be appointed as chairman.

PTA has been functioning on ad hoc basis for the over one year and some important matters, including operators’ license renewal and implementation of telecom policy in letter and spirit is pending.