LAHORE: Printing of wrong map in a textbook has irritated Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif so much that he has decided to get the issue probed by a judicial commission to fix those responsible for it.

The ‘half-an-hour’ meeting chaired by the chief minister on the printing blunder got extended to two hours here on Sunday as dissatisfied by the “contradictory” statements submitted by the authorities concerned, he decided to immediately seek judicial inquiry into the issue.

A letter would be written to the Lahore High Court chief justice on Monday (today) for forming a judicial commission, while the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team was also asked to hold a probe on its own.

The chief minister was irritated to know that manuscript of the grade 8th geography book was moved from top to bottom (four levels) and then vice versa before final printing but none bothered to scan the map on its back title declaring Indian-held Kashmir a disputed territory and printing maps of Seraikistan and Hazara as new provinces.

The blunder was pointed out only by one of the authors, who wrote a letter to the Curriculum and Textbook Board in the first week of June.

The personal assistant to the chairman (retired Lt Gen Akram Khan) instead of forwarding the letter to his boss dispatched it to the director humanities, who allegedly took it casually as the books with misprinted maps had already been distributed among many private schools students.

“It is tantamount to a heinous crime,” the chief minister said, calling for a judicial inquiry into the incident.

He wondered where the check and balance system of the department was.

“After identifying this mistake, the department concerned and authorities should have taken action immediately but they neither performed their responsibility nor took immediate action.” The elements involved in this heinous crime would not escape punishment, he warned.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2015

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