ISLAMABAD - A burgeoning bureaucracy has been established within the Presidency comprising President Zardaris Public, Personal, and Political Secretariats. The strength of this collection of Presidential staffers is unprecedented and is even larger than the former dictator General (retired) Pervez Musharrafs staff even though the later was also wearing the COAS hat as well. Apart from the Presidents personal staff and an array of political advisors and assistants, over half a dozen top level civil servants working in the Presidents Public Secretariat under Secretary General Salman Faruqi indicate that there is in reality a parallel bureaucracy in the Presidency. Faruqi, however, turned down this impression by saying that the Presidents Secretariat (Public) was running with bare minimum staff. We are having just one Federal Secretary and one Additional Secretary and four Joint Secretaries looking after day to day affairs of the Presidency, he clarified. However, a document available with The Nation shows that there are seven Additional Secretaries and one Federal Secretary in addition to a Press Secretary as well as a retired judge as Consultant Legal Affairs working in the Presidents Secretariat under Mr Faruqi. But the Secretary General with status of a Federal Minister clarified that all of them were just called Additional Secretaries in the Presidency as heads of the various wings for the sake of uniformity. It is pertinent to note here that a Joint Secretary in the federal bureaucracy is not much junior than an Additional Secretary. In other words a Senior Joint Secretary in grade 21 is equivalent to Additional Secretary. Although most of them are Joint Secretaries in grade 20 except for two of them, still it shows significant concentration of senior level civil servants in the Presidency, sources in the Establishment Division told The Nation. Mr Faruqi also defended his position against the public impression wherein he has been compared to the former President General Pervez Musharrafs key aide Tariq Aziz, by saying, I never go beyond my domain of Public Secretariat of the President. According to the list of senior level staff under Mr Faruqi, Malik Asif Hayat, a retired Secretary of the Police Services of Pakistan (PSP), has been rehired on contract basis as Secretary to the President. Seven Additional Secretaries, as per their titles at least, and their respective areas of responsibilities include Zaid Usman (Administration) looking after Presidents Contingent Grant, General Petitions, President Estate and Transport, Auditor General of Pakistan, Social Welfare And Special Education Division, Bait-ul-Mal, Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA), National Accountability Bureau, Religious Affairs Division, Council of Islamic Ideology, Minorities Affairs Division, Zakat and Ushar Division, Sports, Pakistan Cricket Board, Federal Ombudsman, and Islamabad Capital Territory Abdul Shafiq (AS Coordination) looks after Presidents programmes, Presidents Travels, Attorney General, Supreme Court, Prime Ministers Secretariat, Prime Ministers Inspection Commission, the National Commission for Government Reforms, National Disaster Management Authority, National Assembly, and Senate Secretariats, Law and Justice Division, Federal Services Tribunal, Parliamentary Affairs Division, Election Commission, Cabinet Division, Intelligence Bureau, Establishment Division, Federal Public Service Commission, and Federal Land Commission. M Shahzad Arbab (AS Establishment) takes care of State and Frontier Regions, IDPs, Federal Divisions for Commerce, Industries, Special Initiative, Investment, Planning and Development, Economic Affairs, Textile, Ministry of Information, Local Government and Rural Development, Finance, Statistics, Revenue Division (FBR) besides State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, PTV and Radio Pakistan. Muhammad Ishaq Lashari (AS HD) is responsible for Divisions including Culture, Environment, Education, HEC, Food and Agriculture, Health, Overseas Pakistani, Livestock and Dairy, Population Welfare, Women Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs, Housing and Works, Human Rights, Labor and Manpower, besides the Presidents website, NCHD and NRB. Zafar Qadir (AS Infra) takes care of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and Pakistan Telecom Authority and Divisions including Ports and Shipping, Postal Service, Railways, IT and Telecom, Petroleum and Natural Resources, Scientific and Technology, Privatization, and Water and Power, Hassan Javed (AS FA) is responsible for Special Committee on Kashmir and National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. Justice Retired Ali Nawaz Chohan (Consultant Legal Affairs), appeals and cases of Mohtasib, and Federal Tax Ombudsman, Cases referred for legal advice, mercy petitions, and stay of execution.