replace bureaucrats with ‘junior’
KARACHI: It was revealed on Sunday that there have been concerns within the provincial bureaucracy regarding the transfers of several senior bureaucrats with Sindh residency in a recent reshuffle, which was allegedly carried out under the guise of an instruction from the Election Commission of Pakistan. While the majority of them have been replaced by their juniors, there are some who have no influence whatsoever over the upcoming general elections.
Three chief secretaries and more than six other officials from Sindh have been ordered to report to the Establishment Division (ED) without being posted, and their positions have been filled by “junior” or “in-charge” secretaries of various ministries and divisions.
Similar to this, reliable sources told Dawn that despite the presence of several senior officers in the provincial police force, Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon had been transferred and replaced by a ‘junior’ police officer from Punjab.
According to the sources, secretaries of various ministries and divisions were moved as part of a recent bureaucratic shake-up that had no bearing on the upcoming general elections.
Chief secretaries of Sindh, Azad Kashmir, and Balochistan are among those fired.
Additionally, the sources claimed that the State of Jammu and Kashmir’s administration had nothing to do with the elections and that Muhammad Usman Chachar, who was based in Sindh, had also been moved.
According to the sources, on August 17 the ECP sent a letter to Inamullah, the secretary of the Establishment Division in Islamabad, requesting “proposals for posting of senior federal government officers.”
The general elections were a “eventuality,” according to the ECP letter, and “capable officers of impeccable character” needed to be posted “across the board.”
According to the letter, certain ministries and organizations were “important and relevant” in terms of elections. The ECP is currently seeking proposals for 15 senior officers to fill the positions of secretaries of the cabinet, interior, power, petroleum, communication, housing and works, IT, and climate change, as well as chief secretaries of Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, chairman of the Capital Development Authority, chief commissioner ICT, IGP Sindh, and deputy commissioner Islamabad.
Three chief secretaries of Sindh, Balochistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) — Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Abdul Aziz Uqaili, and Muhammad Usman Chachar — who were residents of the Sindh province, according to the sources — had been transferred, along with other Grade-22 employees.
Navid Ahmed Shaikh and Abdul Ghufran Memon, two additional officers in BS-22 who previously held the positions of IT secretary and maritime affairs secretary, respectively, have also been reassigned and now work under the establishment division.
Despite not having a clear connection to the elections, according to the sources, the ministries of information technology and maritime affairs were moved and told to report to the Establishment Division.
Similar to this, the sources claimed that AJK had nothing to do with Pakistan’s general elections, but the chief secretary, who is from Sindh, was also ousted.
Strangely, according to the sources, the majority of these Grade-22 officers had been replaced by Grade-21 personnel, much like Sindh Chief Secretary Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput had been.
It is widely thought that several bureaucrats who had ties to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz administration at the time were maintained and unaffected by the reorganization.
