Mine over matter: Govt asks Centre for former minerals secretary’s letter

Mian Waheeduddin is said to have levelled accusations of nepotism against CM Khattak

PESHAWAR/ MARDAN: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has approached the Centre for a copy of a letter said to have been written by former mines and mineral department secretary Mian Waheeduddin, accusing the chief minister of nepotism. The department has been under fire recently and the former secretary has said he was threatened with dire consequences if he disobeyed Khattak’s directives.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, CM Pervez Khattak was accused of pressurising Waheeduddin to appoint an infamous individual. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led administration has written to the Cabinet Secretariat’s Islamabad establishment division secretary to furnish a copy of the letter Waheeduddin allegedly wrote to the federal government.

“It is therefore requested to kindly share the details pertaining to the matter and also to provide a copy of the referred letter, if any, at the earliest so the provincial government may take appropriate action,” read the K-P establishment department dispatch written on July 16. The EC had earlier issued an arrest warrant for Waheeduddin on July 7. The bureaucrat has been on the run since then.

“Mian Waheeduddin has committed the offence of corruption as defined under Section 23 of K-P Ehetsab Commission Act 2014. Therefore, in exercise of powers as envisaged under Section 38, read with subsection 5 of Section 36, of the said act, the arrest of the above mentioned accused is directed,” reads the warrant, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune.

The appointment in question

Waheeduddin informed the federal government that Khattak ordered him to appoint Sher Ayaz as a deputy director in the department in Abbottabad. The former secretary did not obey the order as he considered Ayaz corrupt.

However, a notification issued by the office of the secretary mines and mineral development on August 28, 2013 said Mardan Deputy Director Ayaz, BPS-17, was transferred to Abbottabad. The handout added Ayaz would also perform duties of the deputy director (technical) in addition to his designated duties.

No holds barred

Meanwhile, a close aide of the PTI chairman and Minister for Education Atif Khan said, “The noose will be tightened around corrupt officials and that heads will roll in no time.”  Talking to The Express Tribune at his residence in Mardan on Monday, Atif said National Accountability Bureau and the EC have been handed the task of targeting officials guilty of inflicting losses on the government exchequer, regardless of their political affiliation and rank.

He said since the EC was in place and completely independent, action would be initiated against all corrupt politicians and government officials even if they had retired from service. “The EC will not discriminate between bigwigs and ordinary officials,” the cabinet member added. He said the detainees will not be victimised and both NAB and EC will abide by the due process of law. “We will arrest those who make illegal arrests,” he said.

“A government that can put its own minister behind bars can do anything to ensure its commitment is not compromised.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2015.