Govt to appoint Ramesh Kumar as ETPB chairman

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government may appoint Ramesh Kumar Vankwani as chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), The New has learnt.

Sources claim that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given his consent to appoint Vankwani as the ETPB chairman. He belongs to Karachi and has a reputation as an honest person. The ETPB has been working without a regular chairman since the removal of Siddiqul Farooq by the Chief Justice of Pakistan earlier this year. The ETPB administers evacuee properties attached to educational, charitable or religious trusts left behind by Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India after partition. It also maintains and upkeep places of worship belonging to Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan.

According to the sources, some officials of the ETPB have started a conspiracy against Ramesh Kumar soon after the reports of his possible appointment. Leaders of the Sikh community have strongly opposed the appointment and warned that if a Hindu was appointed to the post, they would start a protest movement all over the country.

According to a press release issued by the ETPB information department, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) Chairman Sardar Tara Singh and members Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, Sardar Bishan Singh, Sardar Gopal Singh Chawla and others have demanded of the government not to appoint a Hindu to the post.

When contacted, ETPB Secretary Tariq Wazeer Khan denied that any conspiracy was being hatched against Ramesh. He said any person appointed by the government would be welcomed by the department. However, a majority of the Hindi community has welcomed the move, saying that a minority member should have been the Board's head.

Talking to The News, Ramesh Kumar Vankwani said he was ready to take charge of the office if he was appointed. He said all corrupt elements would be thrown out of the ETPB if he was appointed. Ramesh Kumar, director of a Hindu welfare organisation, Haray Ram, lamented the Sikh community was opposing the appointment of a Hindu as the ETPB chairman.

He said the Sikhs could accept Asif Hashmi and Siddiqul Farooq as chairmen of the ETPB, then why they could not accept a Hindu. He said the population of Hindus in Pakistan was 8 million while the Sikhs were only 20,000 and the Hindu community had the right to be given the post.