Under pressure from countrywide protests against long hours of load shedding, President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday ordered the swapping of portfolios of water and power minister Naveed Qamar with defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar.
An official at the Prime Minister’s House confirmed the swap and said the decision had been taken and a notification had also been issued. Recently, both Naveed Qamar and Ahmed Mukhtar had invited the ire of the president for their poor performance.
Experts, however, were not optimistic about the change of portfolios and called the move an “artificial step” which might further deteriorate the power sector.
“This looks like an artificial move as Ahmed Mukhtar has no experience of Water & Power Ministry. At least I have no knowledge about any such experience he enjoyed. One wonders what good he brings to power shortage as his performance as defence minister and especially as chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was pathetic,” said Dr Salman Shah, a former finance minister. He, however, said the decision should not be viewed in isolation and this move might have some other dimensions as well.
“You know that the relations of the defence minister with the army chief were also not pleasant. I don’t know whether this change has taken place on request of the army. Also, when former air chief Rao Qamar Suleman was made PIA chief sometime back, Mukhtar was replaced as the PIA chairman,” he added.
He wondered if the move was a punishment for Mukhtar by Zardari, as Mukhtar had to contest the polls from Punjab and the people of Punjab were already facing the brunt of massive load shedding.
Dr Salman Shah said the move might be aimed at the revival of Kalabagh Dam by the PPP-led coalition government as a representative of the Council of Common Interest had informed the Lahore High Court bench that it had no reservation over Kalabagh Dam.
On the other hand, Naveed Qamar was also facing severe criticism from within the ruling coalition and even Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari had expressed displeasure with his performance.
Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had claimed that the Water and Power Ministry had no mechanism in place to evaluate actual quantum of load shedding and the gap between scheduled and unscheduled load shedding.
To the PM’s surprise, Qamar had not contradicted Shaikh’s claim.
Instead of swapping the portfolio's of Ministers, drop the incompetent one. If Mr. Naveed Qamar has done a poor job as Minister of Water and Power, how will he do a better job as Minister for Defence? Looks like the PPP does not have a choice.
Just a matter of time before they start sharing jail cells. Incompetence can't be hidden by swapping ministries. They'll be incompetent no matter where they go.
There is no other personality for these posts?PPP must resign from ruling the country as it is completely failed to govern,the investgation of Siachin must be conducted who is responsible for the loss nore than 120 Pakisatani soldiers in giari sector and Mukhtar must be tried for this matter.
There is another personality but unfortunately he is in the Provincial Assembly and he is RAJA RIAZ OF FAISALABAD. He is highly qualified and holds degrees from numorous courts.
To site admins; are you in the same catagory or you can't read English? Only an incompetent site admins will withold comments about the qualifications of Raja Riaz of PPP.
Will Ahmed Mukhtar also sleep through meetings and Parliment sessions
Now atleast M/S service Industries will no be subjected to load shedding / power outages.
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