PTCL has witnessed a transition in leadership as Maroof Afzal has taken control of the telecom giant as its chairman. He has replaced Aamir Ashraf Khawaja who served PTCL for six months at the same position.
Maroof Afzal also assumed the office of the Federal Secretary at Ministry of IT and Telecommunication. He is a Grade-22 officer and has served at key positions at different organizations and ministries earlier.
He will work with Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui at the key ministry, which is a top priority of the new government, especially for executing its Digital Policy in the future.
The other tasks include liaison with the establishment division to appoint Chairman and Members of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), who will ultimately work on the commercial launch of 3G/4G services in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This will be followed by the launch of 5G services in the future throughout the country.
The other major assignment of the Chairman PTCL and the Federal Secretary MOITT is to settle the issue of $800 million outstanding payment from Etisalat to Pakistan government, which is currently attracting foreign exchange inflows to the national exchange.
These tasks are important for generating foreign exchange, revenues through taxes, and skilled jobs.
The government’s vision, policy, and new tasks are apparent for a team of the new minister and the secretary as well.
However, the progress in MOITT and its sector will only be visible if the secretary is retained for a longer period of time and he delivers well with the new minister.
In the last government’s tenure, three secretaries assumed the office of the federal secretary MOITT and the Chairman PTCL including Azmat Ali Ranjha, Rizwan Ali Khan and Aamir Ashraf Khawaja.
The frequent transfer of a secretary from one ministry to another not only affects the performance of one ministry like MOITT but it also negatively impacts the growth of the associated sectors and their contribution in the economy and social development of the country.
Besides the nomination of Maroof Afzal as the Chairman of PTCL, Rizwan Malik has been appointed as the Director at the board of PTCL. He has replaced Irfan Ali as the director, a position which is nominated by the government of Pakistan.