LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday appointed a new managing director (MD) for the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board, two weeks after Manzoor Hussain was removed from the post following a controversy over banning of 100 books.

According to a notification available with Dawn, Farooq Manzoor, thePunjabprinting and stationery controller, was posted as the managing director in his own pay and scale.

The former MD, Mr Hussain, had banned 100 textbooks the board found to be “against the two-nation theory” or deemed “unethical and illegal”.

Moreover, around 10,000 books by 31 publishers had been seized, including those by Oxford, Cambridge, Link International Pakistan and Paragon Books. The textbook board had constituted 30 committees for inspection of these books for further investigation. Mr Hussain had faced severe criticism on social media for banning the books.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2020