The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) is yet again witnessing the inaccessibility of the policy-making leadership with the retirement of Federal Secretary Naguibullah Malik.
The MoITT has become secretary-less, which was previously minister-less for more than two and half years of the sitting government.
After Mr. Malik’s retirement on December 22th, 2010, the government has not made any appointment so far to fill up the vacuum in the ministry.
It seems the government is not realizing the importance of IT and telecom in the country as it has showed its indifferent attitude till now, an official of the ministry commented.
There are various IT and telecom development projects in the pipeline, which have not been materialized on time as approvals from federal secretary and minister are mandatory,
Federal Secretary of MoITT is also the chairman of PTCL board. He supervises autonomous departments under the ministry such as Electronic Government Directorate (EGD), National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), Telecommunications Foundation (TF), Special Telecommunications Organization (SCO), Virtual University (V.U), Electronic Certification Accreditation Council, USF Co and ICT R&D Co.
The ministry is a highly-techie, therefore, a secretary and a minister should be well-versed to understand technology advancement and its demand in the country.
The government has recently designated Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali as Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication.
He was the first minister of this Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) in the elected Pakistan Peoples Party-led government after two and half years. In the absence of any minister, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani had been remained the in-charge of the ministry for long-time.
About Naguibullah Malik
Mr Nagibullah Malik has served the MoITT for one year and three quarters. He played a vital role in the development of IT and Telecom without any minister.
Under his term, he had worked on 3G policy and its awareness seminars in multiple cities. Besides, he exclusively embarked on researches and draft works of Pakistan Electronic Crime Ordinance (PECO) and Pakistan IT Policy.
In the brief term, he had intense relationship with Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, who was appointed as minister-Incharge for five months and advisor for three months of MoITT
Mr Malik, a soft spoken and professional bureaucrats, had congenial relations with chiefs of authorities come under ministry.
He has been retired from civil service and now appointed as member of Federal Public Service Commission Pakistan.
