MULTAN, Aug 21: Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Mian Abbas Ahmed has resigned from his office to give opportunity to the smaller provinces to represent the lawyers’ community.

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, Mian Abbas said the PBC comprised 20 members. Of them, 11 belonged to the Punjab, five to Sindh, two to the NWFP and one to Balochistan while the country’s attorney general headed it as its chairman.

He said the office of the vice-chairman was rotated in all the provinces and currently he was representing the big province and his term had to be concluded on Jan 4, 2004. But he was resigning so that the representatives of smaller provinces could hold the office for some more time.

He said by resigning before time he wanted to give message to President Pervez Musharraf that it was institutions that mattered and not the men who represented them. He said he was satisfied with his stint as PBC vice-chairman because he ‘successfully’ ran lawyers’ movement against the LFO and superannuation age of the judges.

WTO: State Minister for Agriculture Sikander Hayat Bosan has dispelled the impression that the country is not prepared to face the challenge of the World Trade Organization regime to be enforced from January, 2005.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, the minister claimed that the country was fully prepared to join the free market economy by the year 2005.

He said a large delegation of the country, headed by the federal commerce minister, would attend the Mexico round of the WTO on Sept 10.

He said he himself had been busy in getting briefing on the WTO during the last three days in the federal capital despite the fact that his younger brother Shaukat Hayat was contesting the byelection for the slot of the Multan Saddar tehsil nazim.

The matters relating to the agriculture sector, he said, had yet to be finalized on the WTO forum and negotiations were going on to secure concessions for the countries having agro-based economies. “In my view the WTO regime is a trap for developing and less-developed countries,” he said and added, “we are not only preparing to meet the challenge (of WTO) but we will also plead the case of agrarian countries like Pakistan on the WTO forum”.

The minister said that the coming 20 days were vital for cotton crop and warned against adulteration in pesticides reminding that this offence was now punishable for 25 years in prison. He appreciated the Punjab government move to set up agricultural courts.

The minister disclosed that the premier had constituted two committees to look into the matter of restoration of Haj flights from Multan and Sukkur.