The Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), the largest public sector financial entity meant to cater to the development needs of the vast agriculture sector, has been used before to dispense political patronage. However, this time, right when the national elections were around the corner, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf used his clout with the ZTBL President Ehsanul Haq to get three ZTBL branches opened in his own constituency within the span of a few days.
ZTBL has 357 branches spread across the country. In this context, three branches in one constituency – that of his own – right when the prime minister’s government was on its last legs was a few too many.
The brazenness with which this was done is reflected in the prime minister’s sibling inaugurating all three branches, located in Bewal, Dhok Amb and Doltala.
For the purpose of efficiency, three ZTBL branches in just one constituency do not make any sense and insiders claim that these are anything but viable.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already quite rightly termed such manoeuvrings using public sector funds with the intent to buy votes as pre-poll rigging. In this backdrop it remains to be seen whether the ECP takes notice of this wanton use of the ZTBL resources in a single constituency only to facilitate the re-election of an important politician”, an ZTBL official on conditions of anonymity said.
Meanwhile, sources claimed that the former prime minister used his powers to prematurely oust three highly qualified members of the ZTBL board of directors to please the bank’s president. This was done on March 16 – his last day in office. The Islamabad High Court issued a restraining order on Monday, staying the arbitrary removals.
Then the ZTBL president announced the opening of three branches of the bank to please the former prime minister in his own backyard.
The irony is that the three members expelled from the board of directors were exceptionally qualified. For instance, Zafar Iqbal is a leading chartered accountant of impeccable repute and headed Board Audit Committee. Dr Amir Mohammad has a doctoral degree, is a scientist and has been the chairman of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council and vice-chancellor of the internationally famed Agricultural University of Faisalabad. Sultan Chaudhry is a double MSc in agriculture, one from Pakistan and the other from the US, and he has been federal minister for agriculture in several cabinets during Zulfiqar Bhutto and Zialul Haq periods in power. He was also ZAB’s advisor on agriculture.
Many attempts were made to contact the ZTBL officials for their version of the events but they declined to comment.