LAHORE: Chairman of the National Fertiliser Corporation of Pakistan (NFC) has been sacked; one of the first to go after the fall of Yusuf Raza Gilani’s fall. Meanwhile, another key office holder, the chairman of the PM’s Inspection Commission, has resigned and left the country.
A political appointee and dedicated PPP stalwart, NFC head Khalid Malik, was a close associate of late PPP leader ZA Bhutto. His contract of service was to expire in October 2013. But he has been shown the door prematurely and in his place Rizwan Mumtaz Ali, a nominee of the Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, has been appointed, according to well-placed NFC sources.
The new incumbent has sent his joining report to the NFC headquarters in Lahore but Khalid Malik has not relinquished his charge yet. He told this scribe he would contest his ungraceful removal and was going to the court. Khalid Malik’s nephew happened to be married to the niece of ex-PM Yusuf Raza Gilani, Malik confirmed to The News.
During ZA Bhutto’s rule, Khalid Malik was a senior minister of the Punjab and a political rival of another PPP stalwart Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar, former governor, chief minister and a cabinet member of the PPP governments later. He had also been chairman, Faisalabad Zila Council. Hailing from Toba Tek Singh, he was elected thrice as a member of the Punjab Assembly.
Amjad Ali Noon is the second PPP stalwart who preferred to resign before he was shown the door as Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission.
Amjad Ali Noon has already left Pakistan and is away from the unfolding political scenario. As he told this scribe, Amjad Ali Noon happens to be the son-in-law of late bureaucrat FK Bandial, whose son is now Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.
Justice Atta Bandial, soon after assuming his duties as the Chief Justice, Lahore High Court, reopened the case against President Asif Ali Zardari for holding dual office as the Co-chairperson of the PPP as well as the President of Pakistan. A three-member full bench on June 27 had granted time to President Asif Ali Zardari to relinquish the office of PPP co-chairman by September 5.
Being closely related to the incumbent Chief Justice, Noon felt he was in no position to take political pressure and pre-empted any move against him by resigning from his office gracefully, giving precedence to family ties.
Political pundits consider the exit of two PPP stalwarts a bad omen for the party. “The PPP bag is perforated now and grains have started pouring,” remarked an insider who is likely to spill the beans in the coming days.
Both Bandials and Noons hail from two illustrious families of Sargodha division. Amjad Ali Noon’s father Anwar Ali Noon was a friend and associate of ZA Bhutto. Noon is also related to Pakistan’s 7th Prime Minister Feroz Khan Noon (1957-1958). Bandials hold high name in civil and judicial services of Pakistan and prefer to remain apolitical.
