Punjab’s seven re-hired officers shown the door

Gen (R) Ziauddin Butt, Rana Maqbool Ahmed are among the 7 officers; Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa also dismisses 6 officers.

LAHORE: As many as seven retired officials re-employed by the Punjab government on contract under the relaxed re-employment policies adopted in 2003 and 2004 tendered resignations before their contracts were terminated to comply with the Supreme Court orders.

Appointment orders of two officers, who had not yet joined their assignments, have also been withdrawn.

The officials, who resigned on Wednesday, are: chairman of the chief minister’s inspection team Gen (retd) Ziauddin Butt, chairman of the Punjab Privatisation Board Nazar Muhammad Chauhan, secretary Public Prosecution department Rana Maqbool Ahmed, director-general of the Anti Corruption Establishment, Punjab, Justice (retd) Kazim Ali Malik, director-general of Civil Defence Colonel (retd) Ehsanur Rehman, press secretary to the chief minister Shaoib bin Aziz, deputy inspector general of Special Branch, Rawalpindi, Col (retd) Mahmood Ahmed

Appointments orders of Tariq Ayub, director-general of the Punjab Institute of Language and Culture, and Major (retd) Shafqatullah as SSP (investigation), CID, have been withdrawn by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD).

Ziauddin Butt, who was removed by Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf after being elevated as the chief of army staff by former prime minister Nawaz Shairf, was appointed chairman of the chief minister’s inspection team in April 2010.

In September 2009, the Punjab government had re-employed Rana Maqbool Ahmed, a retired PSP officer (BS-20) in relaxation of Re-employment and Contract Policy of 2004, and posted as secretary, Public Prosecution.

Rana Maqbool was IG Sindh when the Nawaz government was toppled in October 1999. Rana was allegedly involved in injuring Asif Ali Zardari during his imprisonment and was widely known to be ‘master of police encounters’ in Punjab. Rana retired from police service in October 2008 and has since been illegally occupying official residence in GOR-I.

Kazim Ali Malik, a retired district and sessions judge, was re-employed on contract on October 1 after relaxation in employment policies.

Shoaib bin Aziz, a former secretary information, culture and youth affairs, Punjab, was appointed after retirement in October last year.

A three-member judicial commission, led by Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa, had found Colonel (retd) Ehsanur Rehman, the then chief of the Special Branch, Punjab, to be responsible for the false report on the alleged plot to kill the chief justice of the Lahore High Court, Khwaja Muhammad Sharif.

Sources said that there was a possibility that the provincial law department might change departmental regulations and re-employment policy.

Government functionaries contacted by Express said that those officers who did not fit the criteria chalked out by the Supreme Court will be allowed to continue to work in the Punjab Public Service Commission and Anti Corruption Department , adding that they “will not be terminated (from service)”.

In Peshawar, the dismissed officers included chairman of the governor’s inspection team, Brig (retd) Saleem Ashraf, member of the provincial services tribunal Salar Khan, superintendent of police DCT, Peshawar, DPO Mardan Waqif Khan, DPO Lower Dir Mumtaz Zarin and DSP Police Training Centre, Hangu.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2011.