LAHORE - The Punjab government on Monday removed Dr Umar Saif, founding chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), and appointed Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani in his place.
Saif served as head of the PITB for seven years. Before completion of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s 100 days, the Punjab government decided to appoint new chairman to the PITB, the department, which executes technology-enabled solutions for the government.
Saif tweeted, “All good things must come to an end. It was a privilege to serve this country for 7 years, establish PITB, ITU, Plan9 & e-rozgaar. In the end, I served for as long as I could — beyond provincial boundaries and political divides — and gave it all I had. Pakistan Zindabad!”
Saif has not been removed as vice chancellor of the Information Technology University (ITU) so far, but he is likely to be removed from this post too in coming weeks.
New PITB Chairman Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani has been serving as chairman of the Planning and Development Department, Punjab and he has been given additional charge of the PITB chairman’s office. He is a grade 21 officer who also served as managing director of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation. He has more than 25 years of experience in Pakistan’s Administrative Services (PAS), working in Punjab, Balochistan and the federal bureaucracy.
Saif expressed his best wishes for the new chairman to take the PITB to new heights.
Removal of Saif was expected, as the PTI government led by Usman Buzdar had been looking for a new team to execute its 100-day plan and implement Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision in Punjab.
Saif recently represented Pakistan at a global forum in Washington, D.C. It is pertinent to mention here that two projects developed by PITB were among 15 projects selected around the globe for case studies in the World Bank Report titled, “Improving Public Sector Performance through Innovation and Inter-Agency Coordination”. Saif termed the inclusion of case studies a matter of pride and honour for Pakistan.
Saif said, “He is truly proud of his team members, 1700 fantastic professionals at PITB, 112 faculty members at International Technology University.”
He said that he would continue his responsibilities as vice-chancellor of the Information Technology University (ITU).
A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Saif tweeted, “I served five successive governments and established two institutions: PITB, which became the main reform engine for the government with over 300 projects in Punjab and other provinces. ITU in just five years became one of the premier technology universities of Pakistan with close to 100 PhD faculty members. Plan9, PlanX and e-rozgaar created new avenues of entrepreneurship, innovation and employment for the youth of Pakistan.”