Following is the Board of Directors of Askari Bank. Askari Bank is a, "private" bank launced by the Army's industrial arm.
Lt. Gen. Waseem Ahmed Ashraf - Chairman Lt. Gen. (R) Zarrar Azim - Chairman Executive Committee Mr. Shaharyar Ahmad - President & Chief Executive Brig (R) Muhammad Shiraz Baig - Director Brig (R) Asmat Ullah Khan Niazi - Director Brig (R) Muhammad Bashir Baz - Director Brig (R) Shaukat Mahmood Chaudhari - Director Mr. Zafar Alam Khan Sumbal - Director Mr. Kashif Mateen Ansari - Director Mr. Muhammad Najam Ali - Director Mr. Muhammad Afzal Munif - Director Mr. Tariq lqbal Khan - Director (NIT Nominee)
.....the chairman of the board is a serving lt. gen. of the army.......in his spare time, he is also the adjutant general of the whole pakistan army.......i.e. the guy responsible for running the personnel of the whole army of 500,000 people........he must be the only serving lt. gen. in the whole world who is heading the board of a, "private" bank......and pakistan may be the only country, where the army's top brass has such impressive credentials that their serving generals are invited by, "private" banks to serve as their heads.......not only when they are retired, but when they are serving in the army!!........
......however, it would be bad enough if, lt. gen waseem was only the head of a, "private" bank.....he is also the head of defence housing authority........now DHA is no small little authority........it is the largest real estate organization in a country, where real estate is one of the top five businesses in the private sector........to give you an idea of its assets, just one of the mosques built in DHA costs Rs 500 million.......
........who else assists lt. gen. waseem in running DHA....Vice President DHA, Maj General Zakauddin and Administrator DHA Brig Abdul Ghafoor........the names may have changed this year, but, rest assured, the ranks are the same.........
.......this is just the example of one serving general.....there are many more like him.......he heads a major bank, and the largest real estate corporation in the country and is, simultaneously, running the whole army..........allah be praised!!....could a serving lt. gen. in the usa become head of wells fargo bank and remax realtors, while simultaneously running the us army!!...............
.......just the overlap of army and private sector, based on this one individual's appointment should be enough to convince anyone how much the army welfare trusts etc. overlap with the serving army.......what talk of resources and budgets, the people running the organizations are the same serving generals!!.......
-- Faizullah Jan Journalism & Mass Communication University of Peshawar Pakistan
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