November 19, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 08, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Nov 18: The official website of the federal government has not yet been updated despite the fact that the government of Shaukat Aziz ceased to function following the dissolution of the National Assembly on November 14.

Websites of ministries still carry names of federal ministers who ceased to hold their portfolios after November 14. This reflects the poor show by the Electronic Government Directorate functioning under the Ministry of Information Technology.

One of the projects to be undertaken by the directorate during 2007-08 is creation of awareness of electronic government. How it will create awareness when the directorate itself is unaware of the changes at the federal level is the question in many minds.

Although the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been amended to replace the name of Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri with Inamul Haque as foreign minister, the name of Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar as the minister of state for foreign affairs still exists together with parliamentary secretary Malik Mohammad Saifullah Tiwana.

The website of Ministry of Finance still shows Shaukat Aziz as the prime minister even after the website was updated on November 16 - two days after the dissolution of the government.

However, the website of Planning Commission has been updated showing caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro as its chairman.

According to the website of Ministry of Defence, Rao Sikander Iqbal is still the senior federal minister, while Ali Asjad Malhi continues to be the minister of state for defence.

The Ministry of Railways immediately removed the name of Shaikh Rashid Ahmad from its website after the dissolution of the federal government.

The Ministry of Environment is yet to remove the names of Faisal Saleh Hayat and Malik Amin Aslam Khan from its website to include the name of new environment minister Syed Wajid Hussain Bokhari.

The website of Ministry of Education still shows Javed Ashraf Qazi and Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli as the federal minister and the minister of state, respectively.

Similarly, the website of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has also not been updated, and still shows Sikander Khan Bosan as the federal minister.

The website of Ministry of Industries of Production and Special Initiatives still shows Jahangir Tareen as the federal minister and Ali Nawaz Khan Mehr as minister of state.

The website of the Ministry of Information was quickly updated, and the new federal minister, Nisar A. Memon’s first official meeting - an address to all heads of departments and corporations - has been posted on the website.

Ministry of Interior, an important pillar of the federal government still maintains the names of Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and Zafar Iqbal Warraich as federal minister and minister of state, respectively.

The other ministries which are yet to update their websites are: ministries of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas; Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis; Law, Justice and Human Rights; Local Government and Rural Development; Religious Affairs and Minorities; Narcotics Control; Parliamentary Affairs; Social Welfare and Special Education Division; Water and Power; Women Development; and Youth Affairs.