PAKISTAN
By Manzoor Shaikh
The light rain with a temperature around 17 degrees Celsius creates perfect weather for a place like Bhurban—a town near Murree. However, the atmosphere inside the Pearl Continental (PC) Hotel, which is hosting a two-day huddle of engineers invited by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), is expected to be quite different—most likely heated.
Although the weather is ideal for enjoyment, the participants’ focus remains on the controversy the council has allegedly been involved in over the past eight months since the PEC Elections 2024.
This two-day gathering of engineers—including the Chairman, Senior Vice Chairman, Provincial Vice Chairmen, and Governing Body (GB) members—features at least four meetings: three organized by the PEC or the Chairman, and one by the main opposition group, The Engineers Pakistan (TEP), led by Engr. Jawed Salim Qureshi.
The key event is the GB meeting of the council. However, the other meetings appear to be designed to manage or address the ongoing controversies—some involving decisions and actions that are alleged to be in violation of the PEC Act—taken by the council under what critics describe as the autocratic leadership of Chairman Engr. Waseem Nazir.
According to information shared with attendees, the Chairman plans to meet with the heads of all boards and committees—now referred to as working groups. These groups were initially formed from among GB members but are now open to co-opted members, a shift seen after allies of Waseem Nazir began tightening the noose around him in recent months. Many engineers consider this meeting pointless, as all participants will already be attending the GB meeting the following day, where the real business will take place. “This meeting is basically an effort to influence participants so they stay calm during the GB meeting, where nearly half the members belong to the opposition party, TEP,” said one GB member.
There is also another session scheduled for the evening, with Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Khalid Magsi, invited as the chief guest. This gathering is widely viewed as a public relations move, intended to show that the Chairman is well-connected and that the media coverage of alleged wrongdoing will not impact him.
Interestingly, Engr. Jawed Salim Qureshi has also invited GB members to a separate meeting the same evening in Murree. This raises a question: where will the members choose to go? At the very least, GB members affiliated with TEP are expected to respond to their leader’s invitation.
Information gathered from conversations with several members suggests that the upcoming GB meeting is likely to feature heated debate. At the top of the agenda is the budget, which remains unapproved—a delay that could have serious consequences. Other agenda items, which include many of the Chairman’s so-called “reforms,” may be sidelined, while other significant issues are expected to take center stage.
These include Engr. Mukhtiar Shaikh’s demand to impeach Chairman Nazir (despite no such provision existing in the PEC Act), Engr. Sohail Aftab Qureshi’s letter to the Registrar and Chairman regarding the Registrar’s promotion, and repeated calls for the formation of a commission to investigate concerns about the transparency of the PEC Elections 2024.
All of these discussions and events revolve around the pivotal Governing Body meeting of the council.
