In a blatant violation of governance rules and defiance of ministerial directives, a state-owned entity under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoITT) has continued to unlawfully retain a retired official as an ex-officio board member—nearly nine months after his retirement.
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Pak Datacom Ltd (PDL), a subsidiary of the Telecom Foundation, has kept Syed Junaid Imam on its board, despite his official retirement from the ministry in August 2024. The move has raised serious questions about regulatory compliance, board transparency, and the misuse of authority within the organization.
Official sources reveal that multiple letters from MoITT officials have demanded Imam’s immediate removal from the board. Yet, PDL Board Chairman Syed Zuma Mohiuddin has persistently ignored these directives, refusing to take action. His silence in response to repeated queries from Dawn further deepens the controversy.
Ironically, Mr. Imam has already been removed from other boards he was associated with, following his retirement. PDL stands out as the only institution still clinging to his name in an apparent show of deliberate non-compliance.
Mr. Imam was originally appointed as Member IT and Telecom in 2019 on an MP-1 scale, receiving subsequent extensions until his final retirement in 2024. His continued presence on the board despite no longer holding a government post is not just unethical—it’s illegal, say insiders.
The current PDL board, which includes retired Brigadier Syed Zulfiqar Ali (CEO), Perwaiz Khan (Telecom Foundation nominee), independent directors Syed Shamin Ahmed Sheerazi and Mst Rubina Safir, Muhammad Waheed (major shareholder), and Izkar Khan (State Life/National Bank nominee), has not publicly commented on this flagrant violation.
Pak Datacom Ltd, which offers satellite-based end-to-end data communication solutions, operates as a public limited company since 1994. But with such defiance of governance rules at the highest level, its credibility and accountability are now under serious threat.
The silence from both Mr. Mohiuddin and the board raises the specter of institutional capture and suggests a worrying culture of impunity in public sector entities under MoITT.
