Top baboos reshuffled

ISLAMABAD:

A host of grade-22 officers — almost all from the Secretariat group — were reshuffled on Tuesday as the new government went on the first revamp of the bureaucracy’s upper echelon.

Shahzad Arbab, will be taking charge as the new Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary, while Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi will be replacing Arbab as the Economic Affairs secretary. Sethi’s replacement in the cabinet division will be Sami Saeed, who is currently posted as the member in charge at the Ombudsman’s Secretariat regional office in Lahore.

Attaullah Khan, who was on deputation with the K-P government, has been appointed Ombudsman’s Secretariat Secretary.

Meanwhile, Interior secretary Lieutenant (retd) Muhammad Abbas has been made officer on special duty (OSD), with Education, Training and Standards Secretary Major (retd) Qamar Zaman appointed as his replacement. Similarly, Ports and Shipping Secretary Khawar Jameel has been made OSD, with Religious Affairs Secretary Habibullah Khan Khattak announced as his replacement.

Narcotics Control Secretary Seerat Asghar Jaura will replace Taimur Azmat Osman as the National Food Security and Research secretary. Osman has been made OSD.

Information Secretary Shahid Rashid will be taking over as Establishment secretary, while Rukhsana Shah will take charge as the new Textile Secretary. She was previously the National Council of Social Welfare chairperson.

Federal Land Commission Senior Member Naveed Salimi has been appointed secretary of the Federal Public Service Commission.

Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi will be taking charge as the new Overseas Pakistanis Secretary. His replacement will be Qasim Muhammad Niaz, a Pakistan Administrative Service officer who has also been promoted to grade 22 in the Secretariat group. Niaz is currently the economic adviser for the Pakistani Embassy in Brussels.

Grade 21 officer Abdul Khaliq Khan has been made OSD. He was serving in the Human Resource Development Division as an additional secretary.

In addition, Shahid Khan, a grade 21 PAS officer on deputation with the Government of Punjab, has been posted as the additional secretary for Religious Affairs.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.