MULTAN: Days after Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar approved the appointment of additional chief secretary (ACS) and additional inspector general (AIG) for the proposed south Punjab secretariat, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday said that Multan will not be ignored in the new administrative setup.

According to the new arrangement, the ACS will be posted in Bahawalpur and AIG will sit in Multan. While speaking to media on Saturday, Zahid Akhtar Zaman, who is appointed ACS for south Punjab, clarified that the new secretariat was being established with all administrative powers.

In a tweet, Qureshi, who hails from Multan, rubbished the impression that the city will be “ignored” under the new arrangement. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government “will facilitate people of South Punjab at their doorstep,” he said.

Multan will not be ignored in administrative arrangement of South Punjab. There will be a functional secretariat in Multan with ACS attending office 3 days a week. PTI has made tangible progress in it’s manifesto commitments and will facilitate ppl of S.Punjab at their doorstep.

— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) July 5, 2020

According to the foreign minister, there will be a “functional secretariat in Multan” with the assistant chief secretary attending the office three days a week.

While Qureshi announced a secretariat in his hometown, Zaman had said that the secretariat will be established in Bahawalpur for which the land had already been selected whereas a camp office would be established in Multan for which the land was being identified.