I WAS amused to read the remarks of Dr Arif Alvi in an article on True Worth Foundation, published in your paper on Nov 21, in which he was quoted as having hinted that taking $ 70,000 worth of medical equipment from the Japanese government by this welfare organisation being run by a member of the parliament, resulted in a conflict of interest.

Surely, he would not be unaware that the general secretary of his own party, while serving as a minister in Musharraf’s cabinet, had received massive funds for his organisation, called Ali Tareen Foundation, from many foreign countries and donors, including reportedly $1.1m from the World Bank, $10m from the Japan Social Development Fund (JWFD) and $40m from USAID. Mr Tareen apparently also received funds from UK aid and Plan International (both INGOs).

I am sure Mr Tareen did a fabulous job with these funds. Does Dr Alvi see any conflict of interest in this case?

Asif Ahmed Ali

Faisalabad

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015