“Fix It or Close It”: Secretary Issues Stern Warning to Pakistan Post
Ahtesham Yousaf
Islamabad: The Federal Secretary for Communications, Ali Sher Mehsood, sharply criticized the performance of officers within his own department, Pakistan Post, describing their management as “incompetent” and warning that the institution may face closure if urgent reforms are not implemented.
Speaking at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications chaired by Senator Pervez Rashid, Mehsood revealed that officers had failed to prepare a comprehensive business plan even two years after it was requested. “I asked the management back in 2024 to prepare a comprehensive business plan to curtail yearly losses of 19 billion rupees.
The plan was presented to me yesterday and it was completely copied and pasted. It cannot be presented to the government or Parliament,” he said.
The committee was briefed on the current state of Pakistan Post, which operates 13,000 post offices with 21,000 employees. Mehsood highlighted the department’s poor financial performance, with annual expenses of Rs 29 billion against revenue of just Rs 10 billion.
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He also noted that private courier company TCS reportedly earns Rs 45 billion annually by leveraging Pakistan Post’s infrastructure.
A discussion was also held on the long-delayed GPO Murree building project. According to the Director General of Pakistan Post, although the federal cabinet approved a policy in 2020 to rent out the building, local authorities later designated it a national heritage site, leaving it unused for any commercial purpose.
The committee chairman emphasized the need for transparency and open competition in executing Cabinet decisions. He instructed that details of all Pakistan Post properties currently rented out should be provided to ensure accountability.
Mehsood’s blunt remarks reflect mounting frustration over the chronic mismanagement and inefficiency within one of Pakistan’s oldest government institutions, raising questions about its future viability unless immediate reforms are undertaken.
