Eighth in three years: Home secretary ‘calls it a day’

Has gone on three-week leave citing personal reasons but ‘little chances of return’

KARACHI: Home secretary Jamal Mustafa Syed has reportedly gone on a three-week leave citing personal reasons but official sources say the grade-20 bureaucrat will not be rejoining office.

According to sources, Syed, an officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service known among bureaucratic circles as a 'literary figure' for his keenness towards literature, has allegedly called it quits owing to the 'intense pressure from civil and military huddles' in controlling the law and order situation in Karachi.

Shah is the eighth home secretary the all-important department has seen in the last three years.

Though the government has not yet issued an official notification to appoint a full-fledged secretary, the temporary charge of the home department has been given to Riaz Soomro who already works as the special secretary of the department.

Among the officers who have served as home secretary since the last three years are Syed Mumtaz Shah, Wasim Ahmed, Mukhtiar Soomro, Niaz Abbasi and Rahim Soomro.

Recently, the home minister has been embroiled in a controversy with the Rangers after an alleged criminal and aide of the minister's brother managed to evade arrest by the paramilitary force in Larkana.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2016.