|
|
| March, 28 2005 | Monday | 17 Safar 1426 |
Changes in ministry of defence soon
ISLAMABAD, March 27: The government is set to make top-level changes in the defence ministry as tenure of senior officials is coming to an end. The first official of the defence ministry, who would be completing the extended tenure of service by the end of this month, is Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retired) Hamid Nawaz Khan. Though a number of officials are in the run for the post, sources said Lt-Gen (retired) Tariq Waseem Ghazi was among the list of runners for the coveted post if the incumbent defence secretary was not given another extension.
Another organization under the defence ministry is PIA where its chairman, Ahmed Saeed, is completing his tenure in April and vying to get an extension. Three other officials who are said to be in the running for the post of PIA chairman are PSO Chairman Tariq Kirmani, Pakistan Steel Mill Chairman Lt-Gen Qayyum and Union Bank President Shaukat Tareen.
Sources said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has also considered the names of three aviation experts — Nawaz Tiwana, Khurshid Anwar and Aslam R. Khan — for the post of managing director to bring a turn around in PIA where the 2004 losses were said to be Rs900 million despite a government injection of Rs23 billion as equity during the tenure of Ahmed Saeed.
However, a source in the defence ministry said PIA had apprised the defence minister that the corporation earned a profit of Rs600 million in 2004.
Pakistan Army, which is under the defence ministry, is also set to see completion of tenures of some nine three-star generals in 2005. Following are the names of the Lt-Generals and their completion of service tenures: Lt-Gen Syed Pervez Shahid (April 2005); Lt-Gen Ghulam Mustafa (May 2005); Lt-Gen Khateer Hasan (May 2005); Lt-Gen Khalid Kidwai (October 2005); Lt-Gen Zarrar Azim (October 2005); Lt-Gen Syed Arif Hasan (October 2005); Lt-Gen Shahid Aziz (October 2005); Lt-Gen Mohammad Zubair (November 2005); Lt-Gen Shahid Hamid (November 2005).
|
|