Back in business: K-P information directorate restored

Mushtaq Ghani expected to issue notification soon.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has restored the provincial Directorate of Information and Public Relations which was shut down in July last year under the government’s policy of ‘rightsizing’.

According to sources in the department, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan directed the provincial government to restore the directorate with immediate effect. Around 140 employees working in the directorate were adjusted in different government departments including Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar, Agriculture and Livestock Department, Excise and Taxation Department and Irrigation Department after the information directorate was dissolved. The directorate’s employees, a total of 280 people including those in nine regional offices, will revert back to the directorate after the notification is issued.



The office, where the department was operating from—located near Police Lines—was given to the deputy commissioner’s office and the few staffers there were adjusted at a small office in the Civil Secretariat.

Sources revealed Imran Khan in his recent visit asked about the details of the office’s trimming as many people working in the department had approached him to voice reservations against the decision. The provincial government also came under fire, forcing the PTI to reconsider its move.

“Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani has made the announcement for the restoration of the directorate to its original position and the notification to this effect is expected to be issued soon,” said a source, adding the director for the department will be selected on seniority basis. Ghani was not available for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2015.