Officials closely identified with key projects of the previous Punjab administration, have either been surrendered to the federal government or transferred by the dozen.
While Punjab recently saw a massive bureaucratic reshuffle on the orders of Caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi to ensure what he said fair and free elections, there have been no such movements in the federal government and three other provinces despite the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). On a fresh ECP directive, the Sindh interim setup made some minor changes on Friday while retaining the chief secretary in his place an English daily reported.
In Punjab, Lahore Development Authority Director General Ahad Cheema, who led the team that accomplished the Lahore Metro in a record time of 10 months, has been repatriated to the central government. He was popularly known in the bureaucracy as “metro-man”, sources say.
Gujranwala Commissioner Abdul Jabber Shaheen, who made Lahore a city of flowers as Director General Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) and was twice rewarded by the outgoing highly respected Punjab Chief Secretary Nasir Khosa, has also been surrendered to the federal government.
Insiders say when once the then chief minister transferred Shaheen from Kasur on the compliant of a local member of the National Assembly (MNA) of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the whole city of Kasur went on strike in protest against the decision. Such angry public reaction in support of a bureaucrat was unprecedented. However, after seeing his performance as the PHC chief, the former chief minister apologized in a cabinet meeting to Shaheen for the wrong done to him.
Similarly, Punjab Sports Director General Usman Anwar who was responsible for the famous Punjab Youth Festival that brought numerous Guinness records to Pakistan was shifted out of the province.
On the contrary, four key posts have been assigned to the officers, who closely worked with Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi during his incumbency as chief minister. Sohail Ahmed, who was his finance secretary for three years and Planning and Development (P&D) Chairman, has been appointed as P&D chief again. It was during his tenure as finance secretary that the mega Bank of Punjab scandal took place. He was also posted as P&D chairman during the governor’s rule but was transferred after its lifting. A P&D chairman, who is retiring in June, hardly has time to do the necessary planning for the next few years.
Amjad Bhatti, who worked as PRO (public relations officer) of Pervaiz Elahi for five years, was nominated as Punjab information secretary on Saturday, bypassing at least five senior officers. Rao Iftikhar, who has been made additional chief secretary, worked with the former chief minister for three years as additional home secretary when Ijaz Shah was home secretary. He was also made home secretary during the governor’s rule but was removed after it was dispensed with. Nadim Ashraf, who was working as Overseas Pakistanis Secretary, has been nominated as senior member Board of Revenue, which is another important position.
Senior officers including Dr Tauqir Shah, Fawad Hasan Fawad, Barrister Nabeel, Noor Mengal (the first Baloch officer to be the District Coordination Officer (DCO) of Lahore), Ali Jan, who worked with Shahbaz Sharif as personal staffers for five years, have been repatriated to the federal government.
An officer who is on training cannot be sent out of province of his posting. However, Fawad Hasan Fawad was surrendered to Islamabad while he was undergoing training at the National Staff College.
In some cases of reshuffle, the recent landmark Supreme Court judgment in Ms Anita Turab Ali’s case was defied, as officers, who were posted a couple of weeks ago, have been transferred and made OSDs (offices on special duty) without assigning any reason. To the effect, insiders cite the sidelining of Higher Education Secretary Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Sheikhupura DCO Ali Jan, and Local Government Secretary Raja Sikander Sultan.
According to them, former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who has a number of his close family members in the electoral field from Multan, has been given the commissioner of his choice. As premier, Gilani had made this officer, a nephew of former Senator Dilawar Abbas, Multan DCO. However, the Punjab government later removed him for below par performance.
On the other hand, the secretary of the education department, which has a vital role in fair elections with its approximately one million teachers involved in the electoral exercise, has not been shifted although the official has been holding this post for the last four years. The only criterion he has is that he worked with the new Punjab Chief Secretary Javed Iqbal in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the past.
Insiders say a provincial government cannot throw out the All Pakistan Unified Group officers and has to refer the matter to central authorities with the Establishment Division issuing the repatriation orders. Once this is done, the provincial government concerned relieves such officers. In the instant case, all the 14 officers of the former chief minister’s team were unilaterally repatriated and relieved of duties in Punjab.
“The elite clubs, golf courses, jogging tracks, tennis courts, five-star restaurants, and bridge rooms are now crowded with bureaucrats in Lahore for having a relaxed time,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.
Insiders claim that the 7 Club (official residence of the chief minister where Sethi moved a few days back), which followed a strict one-dish regime for five years, now hosts seven-course dinners.
They say Sethi has so far decided on only 70 odd summaries. During Khosa’s tenure, nearly 35 summaries were sent to the chief minister daily for decision, and most of cases were received back the same day.
According to insiders, with the posting of the new chief secretary, who has not a day of experience in Punjab, the Civil Secretariat Lahore is being ruled by three DMG (district management officers) officials, who came from the Economic Affairs Division. The lists of massive reshuffle were prepared by them, and were endorsed by the authorities concerned.
However, all the three officers were removed or not accepted in Punjab by the former administration for poor performance. One officer was sent back to the federal government for failing to deliver as food secretary, but he managed to stage a comeback during the 2009 governor’s rule as home secretary.
After the end of the governor’s rule, he was again repatriated to Islamabad. The second officer was sent to the central government when senior authorities were displeased with him for below par performance as Director Land Computerization Project because he landed the extremely important project in trouble. He was removed on Khosa’s recommendation. The third officer has not served in Punjab for a day. He was interviewed on the recommendation of then Punjab Chief Secretary Javed Mahmood for posting in Punjab, but he failed to impress.
However, when contacted by our reporter Mohammad Ahmed Noorani to get the Punjab government’s version, its acting Information Secretary Amjad Bhatti said the major reshuffle in the provincial bureaucracy was carried out on the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
He said it was strange to assert by some that those officers, who were working very well, have also been transferred, but they did not realise that only the ECP directive was followed and the reshuffle was done.
Bhatti said it was totally baseless and ridiculous to claim that some postings were made because of political affiliations of certain officers with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and the PML-Q.It should be understood that all officers have worked with all governments and by doing so none could be tagged with a specific political party, he said.
Bhatti explained this by elaborating his own case. He said there was allegation against him that he worked in the media team of former Chief Minister Pervez Elahi and that’s why has been given the position of acting secretary information.
He said those who leveled this baseless accusation conceal the facts from public that he also held important positions in the Shahbaz Sharif government. “I served as acting managing director of the Punjab Education Foundation, and general manager, Lahore Transport Company, and also dealt with the electronic media team of Shahbaz Sharif period.”
Bhatti maintained that working with any government was not a disqualification and the only thing that should be observed was whether an officer had credibility and impartiality.
He said Sabtain Fazale Haleem who heads Metro Bus Service project is still continuing in his position. He said there was no weight with the assertion that the bureaucrats, who worked so long with the previous government and showed very good performance, must continue in their position.
“In fact, the transfer of any such officer from his post will add to the transparency of polls and credibility of the political party that headed the previous government as without doing so anyone can raise objections on impartiality of caretaker government,” Bhatti said.
