Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi has questioned the performance evaluation criteria of federal ministries.
Qureshi, who is also the vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), wrote a letter to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Establishment Arbab Shahzad, expressing serious reservations over placing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the 11th spot.
In his letter, Qureshi expressed reservations over both the performance of ministers and the distribution of certificates among them.
The foreign minister wrote that in the first quarter set in the nine-month performance agreement, the Foreign Ministry achieved 22 out of the 26 targets assigned. Out of the remaining four, one of the targets was completed 99 per cent, and the reasons for delaying the remaining three projects were mentioned in a letter written on Oct 27, 2021, he stated in the document that is also being widely shared on social media.
The minister claimed that the performance of his ministry in achieving targets in the first quarter – first three months of the fiscal year — remained by 70 per cent, while that of the rest of the ministries was 62 per cent. In the second quarter, the ministry achieved 18 targets out of 24. He raised questions and said no written guidelines were issued for the third quarter.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday, taking a jibe at Qureshi, said that Imran Khan had committed a ‘great injustice’ to Multan for not conferring a certificate on Qureshi while distributing performance certificates.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan awarded appreciation certificates to the “top 10 best performing federal ministries” under his government, with the communications ministry, planning ministry, and poverty alleviation division getting top honours of first, second and third respectively.
