LAHORE    -    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s decision to change the Chief Secretary and the Police Inspector General at a time when the Punjab Assembly is not being allowed to elect a new chief minister has raised eyebrows with many questioning the motives behind this move.

Interim Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has sent a summary to the Establishment Division to replace the incumbent Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal and IGP Rao Sardar Ali Khan with new officers.

The decision comes after the two officers reportedly refused to obey illegal orders of the political bosses currently exercising the executive authority in Punjab. Sources privy to the development said that the two officers were tasked to win the support of the dissident PTI MPAs for Ch Parvez Elahi, the party’s nominee for the position of chief minister.

The panel for the new chief secretary includes three names which include those of Yousuf Naseem Khokar, Tahir Khurshid and Abdullah Sumbal. Of these, Yousaf Nasim Khokhar has already served as chief secretary under the present government. He was replaced by Maj (r) Azam Suleman in November 2019.

The panel of names for the IGP includes Inam Ghani, Amir Zulfiqar and Fayyaz Dayo. Of these, Inam Ghani has also served as IGP under the present government. He was replaced by incumbent Rao Sardar Ali in September 2021.If the two incumbents are replaced, Punjab will be having its sixth chief secretary and 8th IGP in the last three and half years.

The move comes at a time when the Punjab government is functioning without a cabinet and hence cannot take major policy decisions. According to a Supreme Court decision, the government means the cabinet and no major decision can be taken without its approval.

Already, the Punjab Assembly has been rendered dysfunctional as no-trust motions have been moved against both the speaker and the deputy speaker. Speaker Punjab Assembly who is a candidate for the slot of chief minister is still exercising his powers though he had earlier delegated them to the deputy speaker after filing of his nomination papers.Also, the Punjab Opposition has decided to approach the federal government to block this move. Senior PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar told the media that his party will contact the secretary establishment in this regard.