Govt sends Planning Commission deputy chairman packing

Authorities need to urgently appoint someone to avoid delay in budget.

ISLAMABAD: The interim government unceremoniously removed Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque on Friday, following his refusal to call a meeting for the approval of projects deemed important by the caretaker prime minister.

Haque had served three years in office, spending most of his time advocating reforms in the civil service, which is said to be another reason behind his sudden removal. Bureaucrats belonging to the all-powerful District Management Group – now known as the Pakistan Administrative Service – are said to have assumed more power in the caretaker setup, and are now purportedly calling the shots from the Prime Minister House.

Even critics admired Dr Haque’s vision, but argued that he could not implement his ideas despite holding office for three years. The Framework for Economic Growth was Haque’s brainchild, which underpinned the need to introduce much-needed reforms if the country wishes to remain relevant in the 21st century.



Establishment Division Secretary Ahmad Bukush Lehri confirmed to The Express Tribune that Dr Haque’s contract, along with that of six other officials, has been cancelled with immediate effect.

Haque’s removal comes in the midst of the budget making exercise, and the government must now either immediately appoint a new deputy chairman, or assign the task to someone else. The deputy chairman is supposed to head the Annual Plan Coordination Committee meeting, which finalises the development budget and macroeconomic targets later approved by the National Economic Council, which is headed by the prime minister.

“I had tendered my resignation on March 25 and was waiting for its acceptance, as I wanted to leave in a decent way,” Dr Haque said. “When I had already tendered the resignation, there is no justification for terminating my contract instead,” he objected. He said he had pushed Seerat Asgar, the former principle secretary to the prime minister, to present the former’s resignation to the premier on numerous occasions, but that was never done.

Lehri admitted that he came to know about Haque’s pending resignation after the termination of his contract, and was still trying to figure out the issue.

Dr Haque’s opposition to convening a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) – the body mandated to approve projects – may have been the trigger for his removal in such ungraceful fashion. Dr Haque thrice cancelled the CDWP meeting, even as the planning secretary at the Prime Minister House kept pressurising him to call a Balochistan-specific meeting and approve pending projects.

However, Planning Division Secretary Hasan Nawaz Tarir denied the CDWP issue had anything to do with Haque’s removal.

The protocols followed in the dismissal of Dr Haque offer an insight into the present system, where powerful bureaucrats seem to hold a disproportionate share of power. His termination orders were issued by the establishment division secretary and received by the planning division secretary instead of Haque himself. Dr Haque was sitting in his office when his staff received the telephone call informing him of his termination.

Former finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had been the one to bring Dr Haque to Pakistan. He had nonetheless ditched Dr Haque during his last year in office, after he established direct contact with then Planning Division secretary Javed Malik. Dr Haque had spent his last months in office practically sidelined, with the Prime Minister House – as during Raja Pervez Ashraf’s stint in power and even now – dealing directly with the planning division secretary.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.

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