ISLAMABAD, Aug 24: Secretary Statistics Asad Elahi here on Friday exchanged harsh words with National Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Chairman Rasheed Akbar Khan which led to the postponement of an important briefing on the long- delayed unification of three vital state-run data collection organisations.

The verbal brawl took place between the two officials at a time when Mr Elahi showed his reluctance to brief the committee on the unification of the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), Agriculture Census of Organisation (ACO) and Population Census Organisation (PCO) under the restructuring policy of FBS as approved by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in a meeting of the cabinet more than a year ago.

A member of the committee told Dawn that the secretary statistics seemed more concerned about the issue of extension of his own term. It is to mention here that the term of Mr Elahi has already been extended twice by the government.

But another source said the secretary was being pressed by some members of the committee on the issue despite the fact that he had told the committee that the Act had been sent to the law ministry for final approval, which was yet to take place.

The secretary was also to brief the standing committee on arrangements being made for Census 2008 and details of foreign loans which the FBS had so far received.

“The information you have provided to us about the unification of FBS, ACO and PCO is insufficient. You were supposed to give us a detailed briefing on the issue but it seems you are not interested or don’t care,” a member quoted the standing committee’s chairman as saying.

Another member said the secretary’s tone was unbearable and did not match the conduct which a public servant was supposed to stick to during his appearance in front of the parliamentary committees being run by representatives of the people of Pakistan.

“The committee also showed its displeasure over the unnecessary delay in finalisation of recruitment against 60 posts in Statistic Division which were advertised in June this year,” Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali told Dawn.

Some sources said the appointment of 60 officials on contract basis in the FBS was the real issue and that a few vested interests in the standing committee had been pressing the secretary to ensure appointment of a number of candidates. However, the secretary had told those members that he would only stick to merit, the sources added.

The FBS is an attached department of Statistics Division, Pakistan’s official statistical organisation. It is supposed to assist and encourage informed decision-making, research and discussion within governments and the community by providing a high quality objective and responsive national statistical service.

The FBS compiles statistics from many sources and produces global updates, including the Statistical Yearbook, Pakistan Statistics Handbook and yearbooks in specialised fields of statistics.

More than seven years ago, when Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was only the finance minister, different quarters and some international lenders had expressed their concerns over the data collection methods used by FBS and the validity of its figures related to socio-economic development especially macro-economic growth.

Resultantly, after facing much criticism, the government decided to restructure the FBS with its unification with the ACO and PCO.

However, official red tape and the lack of interest on the part of the FBS’s highups have withheld the issue since then as there is no apparent progress is underway on the important project.