Confusion over provincial aide’s status

Newly-appointed Sindh chief secretary Kamran Lashari claims he is still holding office.

ISLAMABAD: A slew of conflicting reports on the removal of newly-appointed Sindh chief secretary Kamran Lashari remained unconfirmed late on Saturday, with the official himself claiming he was still holding the office.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appointed Lashari as chief secretary of the province last week. He was previously serving as a secretary in the federal government.

A former chairperson of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Lashari was facing a departmental inquiry.

Initially, there were reports that Prime Minister Gilani had decided to remove Lashari from the post and had ordered him to report back to the establishment division in Islamabad.

But the establishment secretary, Ismail Qureshi, told The Express Tribune that no such order was issued on Saturday. “I’m not aware of any such development,” he said.

A spokesperson for Gilani also denied any such thing taking place in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

“I can’t confirm this. In fact, nothing of this nature has happened,” Shabbir Anwar said.

Lashari himself said he was still holding the office of the Sindh chief secretary and had not so far received any orders either from the prime minister’s office or the Establishment Division.

“Right now, as I speak to you, I am the chief secretary of Sindh,” Lashari told this scribe a little before midnight. “It is, however, the prerogative of the government to recall me to Islamabad.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2010.