No ouster, or end to hiring of contractual employees

ISLAMABAD – The controversy over FIA Director General Waseem Ahmed’s re-employment on contract after his retirement is turning into a serious standoff between the judiciary and the executive, as the government is not only dilly-dallying in implementing the Supreme Court’s directions to terminate all such re-employments, but also continues to rehire retired officials besides extending the tenures of some top state officials.
A committee of secretaries of the Establishment Division, Cabinet Division, Ministry of Law, Finance and the FBR chairman has prepared a list of around four dozen top bureaucrats who are working on extensions after reaching the age of superannuation. The report has already been submitted with the PM’s Secretariat and the Supreme Court.
In the Presidency, Secretary General Salman Farooqi had been reappointed on contract while the president’s secretary, Malik Asif Hayat, has also been rehired after retirement. In PM’s Secretariat, Staff Deputy Secretary Muhammad Hafeez, Grievances Cell Chief Coordinator Salahuddin Ahmad and Bomb Chemical Examiner Maj (r) Akhtar are serving on post-retirement extensions.
Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Syed Athar Ali, Additional Defence Secretaries Maj Gen (r) Mir Haider Ali, Syed Najmul Asar and Commodore Shah Sohail Masud are on contract. In the Finance Ministry, Budget Coordinator Nasrul Aziz and Joint Secretary Talib Baloch are working on post-retirement extensions.
The Establishment Division secretary and incumbent rector of the National School of Public Policy (NSPP), Ismail Qureshi, and NSPP Director Staff Brig (r) Shahid Akram Kardar have also been reemployed after retirement. As many as five senior joint secretaries, including Attaullah Bangash, Syed Rafique Shah, Baqir Ali Rana, Dr Riaz and Manzoor Mirza are working on contractual reemployment after retiring from the Law Ministry.
In the armed forces and intelligence agencies, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani has been given a three-year extension, while Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who had already been given one-year extension, has again been given extension for another year.
FIA DG Waseem Ahmed, Sindh DIG Traffic Police Khurram Gulzar, Sindh DIG Training and Inspection Nadir Hussain Khoso, Larkana DIG Din Muhammad Baloch and Port Qasim Authority Deputy Secretary Muhammad Zameer Farooqi are also working on contract.
The affairs of NAB are also being run by contract employees, including NAB Punjab DG Justice (r) Rana Zahid Mehmood, NAB Sindh DG Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Pirzada, NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa DG Brig (r) Musadaq Abbasi.