May 24, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 23: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) clarifying a news report which appeared in Dawn on May 23 under the headline “Changes to Nationalisation of Banks Act opposed”, said that the news item was wrongly attributed to NBP Retired Executives Forum president Abdul Hamid Shah Zaman.

Mr Zaman in a statement on Monday had expressed concern over the move of the finance ministry to amend Banks’ Nationalisation Act, 1974, that would allow the NBP chief executive to retain his post for indefinite period.

Issued under the signature of Qamar Husain, senior vice-president, NBP president’s secretariat, Karachi, the clarification claimed that the forum’s president, Abdul Hamid Shah Zaman, had not issued any statement against the proposed amendments. However, the NBP could not provide to Dawn any evidence which could prove that Mr Zaman had denied what was attributed to him in the news item.

The statement appeared in Dawn, associated with NBP Retired Executives Forum “is hereby denied and disowned for the contents and matter”, the clarification said.

“If the ministry of finance is going to bring any amendment to the Nationalisation Act in the sole interest of banks and financial institutions that is always welcomed by us (forum)”, the clarification quoting Mr Zaman, said.

“The performance of NBP president Syed Ali Raza and his management team is highly appreciable. The opinion expressed in the news report opposing amendments to Nationalisation Act and allowing further extension in the tenure of NBP president is not mine and therefore denied”, the clarification quoting Mr Zaman said.

Meanwhile, NBP Retired Executive Forum secretary-general Zafar Iqbal, under whose signature the May 22 statement of the forum was received by Dawn, visited the newspaper’s offices here and reiterated the forum’s earlier stance against the amendments to the Banks Nationalisation Act. He said the NBP had issued clarification on its own.

“The forum stands by what we had said in our statement published in Dawn. We had dispatched a press release on behalf of our forum bearing my signature”, Mr Iqbal said. “We are opposing these amendments on principle because they could prove detrimental to the interests of NBP and other banks and financial institutions and we are not against any person”, he maintained.