Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Boy Scouts (PBS) Headquarters has turned into an epicentre of corruption as unrestrained corrupt practices and widespread corruption has led this international organisation to the brink of devastation.

Well placed sources told Daily Times that officers were eroding the PBS headquarter’s Islamabad treasury like termite, by spending millions of rupees on their foreign joy trips, along with their families.

The federal government extends a special grant of millions of rupees to the PBS headquarters every year which is allegedly embezzled by a nexus of corrupt officers like the former chief commissioner Abdul Karim Baloch, director training programme Zahid Mehboob, working as the acting secretary for several years as well as other officers.

The Chief Commissioner along with his family members has undertaken trips to Europe, the US, Canada, the UK and all the countries of the Middle East at government expenses and he and his family members have performed Hajj and Umra out of the PBS headquarter’s funds.

Also, the Director Training Programme Zahid Mehboob, not only visited foreign countries out of these funds but also sent his relatives and close friends to foreign trips out of the government funds.

Sources told Daily Times that the PBS headquarters in Islamabad had miserably failed in discharging its obligation of promoting scouting in the educational institutions all over the country. On papers about 550000 scouts are present in the country but practically only a few hundred scouts were available.

It is a part and parcel of the scouts training to help people affected by floods, earthquakes and natural calamities besides providing first aid to those who are injured in terror related incidents, donating blood to them and taking them to hospitals, but nothing practical is being done on this count.

Sources said that the president of Pakistan was the chief scout as per constitution. It is ironical that the senior PML-N leader and the president of the Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain has never visited the PBS headquarters nor has he attended any meeting ever since he assumed the office of the president of the country.

On the other hand former President Asif Ali Zardari, during his tenure, took several steps for the betterment and promotion of scouting by taking a personal interest in the matter.

When contacted, Acting Secretary, Zahid Mehboob said that the Pakistan Boys Scouts Association was working all over the country diligently and proactively and was playing its due role in extending assistance to the citizens during floods , earthquakes and other disasters. Different training programmes and camps were being held throughout the year to enhance the potential and proficiency of the scouts.