May 24, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1429

KARACHI, May 23: Mohammad Jafar Khwaja was appointed administrator of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), an NGO facing administrative and financial crisis for many years.

Mr Khwaja replaces his brother, Dr Altaf Khwaja, who was appointed about a week back when Tahir Dada was removed from the post after he served the FCS for only six months.

Jafar Khwaja has been appointed for a period of one year and assigned a gigantic task of enhancing the society’s income, improving conditions at the Karachi Fish Harbour and implementing the 17-point agenda of the European Union to get the ban on Pakistan’s seafood exports to EU countries lifted.

He has also been tasked to install closed circuit television cameras at all the auction halls at the harbour and get an up-to-date audit of the FCS accounts done by a chartered accountancy firm, besides making necessary arrangements for holding the election of the FCS Board of Directors.

The FCS has been facing an administrative crisis since 2004 when navy personnel, who had taken over the charge of fisheries and the harbour for a brief period and ran its affairs in a disciplined manner, were withdrawn.