KARACHI: Almost 90 per cent personnel in the top executive cadres in all foreign commercial and industrial organisations in the country will be Pakistanised by 1970, it was authoritatively learnt in Karachi yesterday. At present, the percentage of Pakistanis in the top cadres is between 10 and 20.

To begin with, the Central Government has issued directives to all foreign concerns to recruit at least 50 per cent Pakistanis in the cadre carrying a salary of above Rs2,500; 75 per cent in the cadre with a salary between Rs1,000 and Rs2,500; and 100 per cent in the salary scale of less than Rs1,000. The time-limit for attaining these percentages has been fixed as 1966.

After 1966, the firms are expected to gradually reduce their non-Pakistani staff and replace them with local hands. For all these appointments, it has been laid down that the terms and conditions offered to a Pakistani should be the same as those given in the case of a foreign national.

But a survey by Dawn reveals that in most of the foreign firms the expatriate staff, in addition to their overseas allowance which is permissible at the rate of one-third of the basic salary, continues to enjoy certain concessions and facilities which are denied to local hands of equal status and rank. — Staff Correspondent