In a bid to improve bureaucratic performance in Punjab, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is planning a post-Muharram reshuffle of the province’s civil and police officers.
According to sources, teams of federal and provincial officials have already completed necessary interviews of bureaucratic and police staff to finalise appointments for several key posts, such as the secretaries for local government, higher education, irrigation and communication and works. Officers interviewed include DIG Anti-Corruption Punjab Gohar Nafees, RPO Multan Flight Lieutenant (retd) Wasim Ahmed Sial, DIG Procurement Ghulam Mahmood. Dogar, DIG Punjab Highway Patrol Tariq Abbas Qureshi, DIG Special Protection Unit Sheikh Muhammad Umar, DIG Bilal Siddique Kamiana, DIG DG Khan Imran Ahmar and Director FIA Lahore Dr Rizwan Ahmed. The civilian interviewees include former additional chief secretary Syed Ali Murtaza and Local Government Secretary Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi among others.
The team conducting the interviews included Prime Minister’s Adviser on Home Affairs Shehzad Akbar, and special assistants Dr Shahbaz Gill and Shehzad Arbab, among other senior officials, sources said.According to them, frontrunners for various posts part of the upcoming reshuffle include Wasim Sial for CCPO Lahore, Dr. Rizwan Ahmed for DIG Operations Islamabad, Gohar Nafees for RPO Rawalpindi, Sheikh Muhammad Omar for RPO Multan, Syed Ali Murtaza for local government secretary and Dr. Ahmed Javed Qazi for higher education secretary. “These names have been shortlisted based on reports from concerned government agencies,” said an official who chose not to be named. He confirmed that the appointments and transfers would be made after Muharram.
When contacted, Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chauhan said any appointments and transfers in Punjab would be made on merit. He added that transfers are part of bureaucratic life and that the government wants to deploy officers in posts that best suit their abilities.
Chauhan further said that the PTI government in Punjab wants to remove all trace of the ‘Sharifs’ bureaucratic mafia’ from the province. “Towards this end, we want to select honest and talented officers for key posts,” he told The Express Tribune.
Sources said that Syed Ali Murtaza, Naveed Chaudhry and Nadeemur Rehman of the Pakistan Administrative Service, who completed the Staff College course, are also being appointed to important posts. On the other hand, the government appears to have decided to replace Lahore CCPO Zulfiqar Hameed and CPO Rawalpindi Ahsan Younis.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2020.
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