Information ministry officers ignored, say ex-secretaries

In letter to PM, they say officers feel demoralized after being ignored

ISLAMABAD: Former secretaries of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have expressed concern over appointments and promotions in which officers of the information group have been allegedly ignored.

They have demanded that officers of the service group be promoted immediately so that the prevailing sense of deprivation may be removed.

In a letter to the prime minister, former information secretaries – Khawaja Aijaz Sarwar, Syed Anwer Mehmood, Saleem Gul Shaikh and Ashfaq Ahmed Gondal – have said some steps of the ministry have been a cause of concern for officers of the information group, who feel demoralised.

They say the information ministry has professional, competent, trained and talented officers who have the ability to successfully handle internal and external affairs relating to media.

The ministry has gained skills and experience to form strategy and implement it over the years. Handling these affairs through officers from other groups cannot yield the same results, the letter says.

The former secretaries claim that despite a very slow process of promotion, officers of the information group feel highly motivated to see the appointment of one of them as the secretary of the ministry, which, they say, is in accordance with the government’s policy to choose the right person for a job.

The officers, in their letter, have requested the prime minister to give them some time so that they could apprise him about the issue in a face-to-face meeting.    (TRANSLATION BY ARSHAD SHAHEEN)

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2017.