Another reshuffle: Portfolios of IB, NACTA chiefs swapped

CDA Chairman Usman Akhtar Bajwa also sent packing

ISLAMABAD: In another top-level reshuffle in the federal bureaucracy on Friday, the federal caretaker government swapped the portfolios of the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Coordinator National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), and the ministries of information and education.

Moreover, Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Usman Akhtar Bajwa, a BS-20 officer regarded as a close aide of former secretary to the PM Fawad Hasan Fawad, has been sent packing. He was directed to report to the Establishment Division.

Bajwa, who was the only BS-20 officer heading a key federal government organisation, was also reshuffled on Friday.



Political parties had called for removing all officers and government functionaries who were appointed by the former PML-N government.

Ishrat Ali, a BS-21 officer, who was serving as the Director-General of Immigration and Passports, has been appointed as the new CDA chairman. Both Ali and Bajwa belong to Pakistan Administrative Service.

No one has yet been appointed as the DG of Immigration and Passports.

Less than two months after Dr Suleman Khan, a BS-22 officer, was appointed DG of the Intelligence Bureau, the caretaker government swapped his portfolio with the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Ihsan Ghani, another BS-22 officer. Both Khan and Ghani belong to Police Service of Pakistan.

Suleman Khan was appointed as the DG IB on May 7 by then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after he was promoted to BS-22. Khan earlier served as the head of the IB’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter as a Joint Director, on deputation. He also has a number of counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations in KP under his belt.

Ghani, the new IB chief, was appointed as Inspector-General of Police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in 2013 by then caretaker government ahead of general elections. Subsequently, he served as the DG of the National Police Bureau before being appointed as the National Coordinator of NACTA. He also previously served at the IB.

Additionally, portfolios of the newly-appointed Secretary Education Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Secretary Education Arshad Mirza were also swapped on Friday in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directives.

Both Sukhera and Mirza belong to Pakistan Administrative Service and are serving in BS-22.

On Tuesday, the government had removed Sukhera as the Secretary Information and appointed him the Secretary Education while Mirza was removed as the Secretary Interior and appointed as the Secretary Information.

However, a Supreme Court order barred Sukhera’s transfer until the top court’s decision in a case involving the allegedly illegal appointment of Attaul Qasmi as the chairman of Pakistan Television (PTV). Therefore, Sukhera was reassigned as the Information secretary.

According to Tuesday’s reshuffle, Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Pasha was appointed as the Secretary of the Statistics Division while Rukhsana Yasmin was notified as the new chairperson of FBR. Secretary of the Establishment Division Maroof Afzal was appointed as the Secretary of Industries while Aurangzeb Haq was named as the new Secretary of the Establishment Division. Secretary Power Division Yousuf Nasim Khokhar was notified as the Secretary Interior while Zahid Saeed was appointed as the Secretary of National Health Service, Regulations and Coordination.



Moreover, Aamir Zulfiqar and Rizwan Memon were respectively appointed as the IG of the Motorways Police and Secretary of the Power Division. Ayub Shaikh, previously an OSD in the Establishment Division, was appointed as the Secretary Kashmir Affairs while another OSD, Sultan Azam Temuri, was appointed as Member of NACTA on deputation for three years. Temuri previously served as the Islamabad IGP.

Sanaullah Abbasi, who was earlier appointed in Sindh, was appointed as the IGP of Gilgit-Baltistan. Capt (retd) Arif Nawaz Khan was transferred from the Narcotics Control Division and directed to report to the Establishment Division. Capt (retd) Jahanzeb Khan was appointed as the Inter Provincial Coordination secretary. Interior Secretary Arshad Mirza was appointed as the Information secretary in Tuesday’s reshuffle.