Bureaucrats with a Punjab domicile are holding the top slots in Sindh as a result of reconciliatory politics by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Today has learnt. According to sources, the Sindh government appointed officers who do not speak Sindhi and have a Punjab domicile on key administrative posts, namely chief secretary (CS) and additional chief secretary (ACS), in the Planning & Development Department as part of a conspiracy to sideline eligible Sindhi officers.
In the long history of the province, this is the first time that the posts of grades 21 and 22 have been granted to non-Sindhi officers while Sindhi officers are being repeatedly denied the posts and are reporting to the Services General Administration & Coordination Department (SGA&CD), the sources said. The posts of P&D CS and ACS as well as of the senior Board of Revenue (BoR) member are supposed to be granted to Sindhi- and Urdu-speaking officers.
However, the present government has deprived both the urban and rural sections by appointing officers with a Punjab domicile on key slots. Moreover, the Sindh government has posted a junior officer of grade 20 as the BoR member against the requirement of grade 21.
Unjustifiably, Sindhi-speaking officers of grade 21 have been working as subordinates of a junior officer of grade 20 in the BoR.
The posts of P&D CS and ACS are currently held by officers with a Punjab domicile, namely Rana Muhammad Abbas and Malik Israr, respectively.
Earlier, Ishaque Lashari, a grade 21 officer with a Sindh domicile, was posted as the P&D ACS, but he was sidelined by the authorities concerned and made the managing director of the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. Moreover, the post of senior BoR member was held by a grade 21 officer, Ghulam Ali Pasha, who was working on contractual basis, but he was replaced by a grade 20 officer, Shazar Shamoon.
Presently, two Sindhi-speaking grade 21 officers, Muhammad Ayub Sheikh and Asadullah Dharejo, are working under a junior officer of grade 20 in the BoR. Instead of appointing senior on-duty officers, the Sindh government has appointed Waseem Ahmed as the ACS in the Home Department on contractual basis.
Nargis Ghalo of grade 21 is currently posted on a grade 20 post in the Special Initiatives Department, whereas former CS Subhan Memon of grade 21 is posted as the chairman of the chief minister’s special team.
Subhago Jatoi of grade 20 has been asked to report to the SGA&CD, whereas his post has been granted to a grade 19 officer with a Karachi domicile, Abid Zawawi.
Two other Sindhi officers, Sohail Akbar Shah and Iqbal Ahmed Bablani, have been sidelined and have been asked to report to the SGA&CD.
Sources claimed that the PPP-led government has overlooked merit even in the bureaucracy, and that the most senior officers are being denied appointment for months.