Gilgit-Baltistan’s chief executive undecided over anti-corruption drive

Issues letter to chief secretary to not conduct inquiries without prior permission.

GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Chief Minister (CM) Mehdi Shah is apparently double minded about whether or not to support the ongoing drive against corruption in the region.

In a seemingly no-win situation, if he supports the drive, it is highly likely that many appointments made in his tenure will be reversed. This will cause Shah to lose support within the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for being “subservient to the bureaucracy” as one source put it. If Shah does not extend his support, he may run the risk of having his public image as a clean politician tainted – a blow to him and PPP as the region heads to elections in 2014.



G-B Chief Secretary Younus Dagha earlier ordered an inquiry into illegal appointments in government departments as he was flooded by complaints immediately after assuming office last year. In the past week alone, at least 80 employees were sacked and many more from the Excise and Taxation department are likely to follow suit as a result of the inquiry.

In an interesting development, the CM office has issued a letter to the G-B chief secretary, asking him not to conduct inquiries without prior permission from the cabinet.

A recent report disclosed the backdoor appointments of 110 teachers to the Department of Education in Gilgit during the past three years. While another inquiry revealed the appointment of nearly 465 teachers in Skardu and Ghanche was against protocol and recommended a re-test for the continuation of their services.

Addressing a protest organised by teachers in Skardu on Wednesday against the decision of the re-test ordered by Dagha, Shah said: “I had ordered the inquiry and I will be the one to take a decision over who will be sacked.

“Action will be taken against those who possess fake degrees, but nobody can touch a teacher with a genuine degree,” said Shah. “Rest assured, my cabinet is contemplating on how to best support the teachers.”

In his speech, the CM also vowed to step down if he failed to defend the “deserving lot of teachers”. Shah added his only crime was that he provided jobs to the poor.

“It was a drama staged on the instructions of the CM,” alleged a nationalist leader in Skardu, Shahzad Agha, while speaking to the media. “There were more of the CM’s own workers in the rally than there were teachers.” Agha added that he did not know why the CM was so upset over the inquiry since it was initiated on his own orders.

Regional President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Hafizur Rahman said the CM was confused over the inquiry. “Dagha is doing great, and the CM should support him if he means what he says,” added Rahman.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2014.