LAHORE: After the arrest of former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Khan Cheema, the bureaucracy in Punjab has split into two segments as the PCS officers have shown lesser concern on the issue, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The Punjab bureaucracy comprises of officers from both the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) and the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) cadre.
After the recent development of LDA ex-DG’s arrest, a large number of CSP officers including those from the administrative secretaries and divisional commissioners in Punjab called on the Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed in an emergency meeting at the Civil Secretariat, where they expressed their concerns over the arrest.
The meeting was attended by BISP Director General Mohiuddin Ahmad Wani, finance special secretary, additional chief secretary, former Lahore commissioner Rashid Langrial, Agriculture Secretary Mehmood Ahmad and other prominent bureaucrats.
According to sources, top civil servants while expressing their concerns remarked that despite cooperation by the bureaucracy, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Cheema. “Bureaucrats were of the view that all the civil servants remained loyal to their duty and never refrained from their responsibilities. They always worked for Pakistan and worked under difficult circumstances,” sources told.
During the meeting, bureaucrats unanimously passed a resolution against the NAB. The draft of the resolution available with Pakistan Today states that, “All the participants of the meetings have serious concern over the harassment and humiliation being meted out to the public servants in the province by brazen misuse of authority and gross abuse of the discretion for extraneous consideration by the NAB functionaries in Punjab. Such an uncalled-for action has caused deep anxiety and sense of insecurity among the public servants, which is determined to the normal government functioning. It must be ensured that the NAB functionaries exercise their powers in a far, just and transparent manner in public interest and strictly in accordance with the law. Chief justice of Pakistan being the custodian of fundamental rights may take a suo motu cognisance of the matter.”
On the other hand, the PCS officers have decided to remain distant from the matter. A senior officer seeking anonymity told Pakistan Today that the CSP officers’ attitude was always disgusting towards the PCSs, and Ahad Cheema was among those who used to humiliate them.
He said that it was “the same Cheema” who during his tenure as the Lahore district coordination officer (DCO) ordered to arrest dozens of PCS officers. “With this being the case, how can the PCS officers have sympathies for the CSP officials,” he said.
