Sindh govt relieves Maulana Fazl's brother as DC Central
The order of the relieving of Ziaur Rehman was issued late Thursday evening but without his replacement
The Sindh government relieved Central deputy commissioner Ziaur Rehman - the younger brother of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Fazlur Rehman - from his charge on Thursday, weeks after the appointment drew the ire of different political parties, bureaucrats and civil society members, who had termed the move against the law.
A letter issued from the office of the provincial chief secretary, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, stated that Zia's services had been repatriated to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial government.
The order to relieve Zia from the post was issued late on Thursday evening, without any announcement of his replacement.
A Sindh government official told The Express Tribune that the move was in pursuance of the federal government's decision to repatriate him to the K-P government on July 27.
Zia, a grade-19 provincial management service officer of K-P, had been appointed as the DC of Karachi's Central district on July 23.
Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune at the time that the decision to induct Zia as a DC in Sindh was made during a recent meeting between Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and Fazl. The two politicians had met to discuss the agenda of an all parties conference called against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
"Fazl told Zardari that the PTI government in K-P was refusing to post his brother as a DC and requested that he be accommodated in Sindh," the sources revealed on the condition of anonymity. They added that the PPP leadership then asked Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to find a solution to the matter.
"The CM was initially reluctant, but he sought legal opinion and later approved the summary for Zia's appointment, instructing the services, general administration and coordination department (SGA&CD) to issue a notification for the purpose," said an official, speaking anonymously. "Fazl has been seeking the appointment for a few years and even approached the CM during his previous tenure, but the CM had held back. But he was left with no option but to accept the party's decision."
According to an official in the SGA&CD, the Sindh government initially wrote to the Establishment Division in Islamabad, seeking Zia's services on deputation. The Establishment Division subsequently placed his services at the provincial government's disposal, but then ordered his return to K-P following the backlash against the appointment.
Earlier this week, with Zia still serving as DC, PTI's Sindh leadership had announced its intention to challenge his appointment in court.