Bureaucratic merry-go-round

Senior officials have been repeatedly transferred without being given ample time to settle

LAHORE:

It has been two years since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been in office with its allies in Punjab. However, due to lack of effective strategy and planning by the government, civil and police officers have been transferred several times from one post to another.

According to the documents and records obtained by The Express Tribune, the civil bureaucracy has had multiple transfers in the short span of two years.

Four senior bureaucrats including Chief Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani, Yousuf Naseem Khokhar and Major (retd) Azam Suleiman Khan were transferred after serving for only a few months while new Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik has been reportedly working under the shadow of fear with minimal interaction.

Similarly, in the last two years in Punjab, five IGs of police have been changed, including Aleem Imam, Muhammad Tahir, Amjad Javed Salimi and Captain (Retd) Arif Nawaz. These transfers were only made as political sacrifices.

The P&D chairman has been changed twice, while the senior member Board of Revenue has been changed three times and additional chief secretary Punjab was changed three times.

In addition, additional chief secretary, civil secretariat secretary, special secretary, additional and deputy secretaries were also changed multiple times. Likewise, more than a thousand officers below secretary level to section officer were also transferred or posted.

Momin Agha, the most senior chief secretary in the civil bureaucracy, has been transferred five times, once as information secretary, twice as secretary higher education, once as secretary health and then as additional chief secretary home.

Local Government Secretary Dr Ahmad Javed Qazi and Secretary Irrigation Capt (retd) Saif Anjum were also transferred three times. Now the irrigation and home department has been shifted to Punjab.

Additional Secretary Rural Economy Arif Anwar Baloch was transferred on political grounds while Secretary Nabil Awan was also made the first Law Secretary on political grounds after working for a short term in two departments.

Secretary Transport Sahibzada Shehar Yar Sultan was also posted as secretary services and served other departments from communications and works. On the same political grounds, Deputy Commissioner Chakwal Ghulam Saghir Shahid and Deputy Commissioner Rajanpur Allah Ditta were not only removed from their posts but also given punishments under the PED Act.

When contacted, former Chief Secretary and current Provincial Ombudsman Punjab Major (retd) Azam Suleiman Khan refused to talk about his services as Chief Secretary in Punjab.

However, the current chief secretary of the province, Jawad Rafique Malik, maintained that when he took office, the coronavirus was at its peak. Work is underway for the betterment and welfare of the officers, he said, adding that he changed very few officers. He added that the change of officers is conditional on their performance. An officer who does a good job will not be replaced and an officer who complains and does not perform well will be replaced. He further said that he was also following the open door policy of the government and all resources are being utilized for the reform of the bureaucracy.

On the other hand, PML-N Punjab Secretary Information and Spokesperson Punjab Member Punjab Assembly Uzma Bukhari said that the PTI government in Punjab has treated the bureaucracy very badly. During Shahbaz Sharif’s tenure in the Chief Ministry, the bureaucracy was stationed. That is why the development work of ten years is before the government. She said that bureaucracy was the backbone of any government but in the present government they have been exploited by changing them one after another.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2020.