AS a cotton man, I read with considerable interest the advertisement supplement brought out on ‘Cotton Research and Development: Historical Prospective’ (March 31).

It is, however, surprising that the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), a semi-government cotton research and development organisation, was set up soon after Pakistan came into being on Aug 14, 1947.

The PCCC was constituted under the Pakistan Cotton Cess Act 1948 of the Government of Pakistan in 1949, with its headquarters at Karachi. According to its charter, the PCCC was devoted to bringing about ‘improvement and development of the growing, marketing and manufacture of cotton’.

The PCCC worked both in the western and eastern wings of Pakistan. The efforts made by the PCCC in developing cotton research to the present enviable stage in what is now Pakistan have been laudable and can hardly be pushed aside.

The write-up appearing in the above supplement should have acknowledged the PCCC’s role in cotton research and development work that is apace now in Pakistan according to national and international requirements. The PCCC should have been put in the limelight of cotton research in Pakistan.

Shafiq Ahmad

Karachi