19 September 2004	Sunday	03 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 18: The seven elected directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) have warned that they would convene the meeting of the Board of Directors of the society , if the registrar of the Cooperative Societies, Sindh, fails to do so by Sept 20.

The directors also referred to a previous letter, requesting the registrar to withdraw his earlier order prohibiting the FCS Board meeting till further orders.

In a signed letter, addressed to the registrar, the directors urged him to convene the Board's meeting by Sept 20, otherwise they would have no other option but to call the meeting according to the society's by-laws, since the quorum for convening such a meeting was completed.

The meeting was scheduled to be held on Aug 10, after the completion of Aug 4 elections, for the purpose of electing a new chairman and vice-chairman for a three-year term.

However, the meeting could not be held on the said date because of the intervention of senior minister, Finance and Cooperation, who issued an order for its postponement without assigning any reason.

They said the undue delay in convening the meeting of the Board had caused a serious crisis in the Karachi Fish Harbour.

They regretted that despite the fact that the election process had been completed after the nomination of eight government directors and election of seven directors, the meeting was still being delayed.

They argued that they failed to understand that why the government was reluctant to call the meeting of the Board despite the fact that the elected directors had unanimously agreed to nominate a senior government official for the office of chairman.

They urged the registrar to call the meeting immediately to save the Society from possible financial disaster.

They were of the view that if an immediate Board meeting was not possible, for whatever reason, at least the Society's affairs should be handed over to a committee of the elected directors, or to senior director Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote, a former vice-chairman of the Society.