ISLAMABAD/Lahore/Karachi  -  The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday gave its nod to a massive administrative reshuffle in three provinces aimed at ensuring a greater degree of transparency in the upcoming general elections in the country.

These administrative changes have been approved for Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces, while similar changes are expected to be made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before the weekend.

The changes were proposed by the caretaker federal and provincial governments and were approved by the election commission with minor changes in the lists.

“Decision to this effect has been taken to ensure free, fair and transparent elections on July 20”, ECP director media Altaf Ahmed told The Nation.

In the Punjab province, services of 18 police officers and 28 senior officers of different other departments have been surrendered to the federal government.

As for the transfers, the transfer 34 secretaries and managing directors, and 35 deputy commissioners have been approved. Also, the transfer of 77 police officers including SSPs, AIGs, SPs and Additional SPs has been approved.

In Sindh, the ECP has approved transfer of 14 secretaries, six commissioners and 33 deputy commissioners. The transfer of a number of police officers including two AIGs, 14 DIGs and several SSPs has also been approved.

In Balochistan, the transfer of six commissioners, 33 deputy commissioners and 64 assistant commissioners has been approved. Similarly, transfer of 31 sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs) has also been approved by the election commission.

Caretaker Minister for Information and Law Affairs Barrister Ali Zafar said yesterday that shuffle in bureaucracy at the federal level is imperative and work in this regard was in progress and the matter is being discussed with the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said the focus of interim government is on ensuring transparent elections in the country.

The move comes after some political parties raised objections that civil servants especially in Punjab have been appointed by the outgoing government of the PML-N and in their presence transparent polls would not be possible.

Political observers have appreciated transfers and postings at this large scale which according them to would now ensure free, fair and transparent elections due on July 25.

In a related development, the election commission has issued Code of Conduct for upcoming elections. According to ECP, there will be a complete ban on the use of panaflex and hoardings. It said that the sizes of posters and banners in the election campaign have also been fixed.

The commission has also prohibited use of pictures of irrelevant persons on banners. The ECP has directed all stakeholders to strictly comply with the code and warned that strict action will be taken against violators.

Punjab reshuffle

After the ECP approved the proposed lists for transfer of officers forwarded by Punjab chief secretary, the provincial government is set to effect the reshuffle.

Almost all the administrative secretaries, divisional commissioners and district commissioners (DCs) will be transferred from their current postings.

The federal officers who have been relieved by Punjab and surrendered to the Islamabad include: P&D Chairman Jehanzeb Khan, S&GAD Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Omer Rasool, C&W ACS Mushtaq Ahmad, Board of Revenue Senior Member Muhammad Aslam Kamboh and CMIT Chairman Abdul Jabbar Shaheen.

The list of relieved secretaries includes: Farhan Aziz Khwaja (Services), Dr Arshad Mahmood (Mines), Dr Ahmab Bilal, Dr Allah Baksh Malik (Secretary Schools), Hasan Akhtar (School Education Special), Nabeel Awan (HED), Najam Shah (Specialized Healthcare), Ali Jan Khan (Secondary Primary and Secondary Healthcare), and former CM Office Secretary Ahmad Javed Qazi.

Other relieved officers include Lahore Commissioner Abdullah Sumbal, Rawalpindi Commissioner Nadeem Aslam Ch, and deputy commissioners Sumair Syed (Lahore), Arqam Tariq (Shaikhupura), Saleha Saeed (Hafizabad), Salman Ghani (Faisalabad), Socrat Aman (RY Khan), Raja Khurram Shahzad (Lodheran), Abdul Sattar Esani (Jhelum), Umar Jehangir (Gujranwala), M Ali Randhawa (Gujrat), Ali Anan Qamar (Narowal), Irfan Nawaz (TT Singh) and Saleem Afzal (Bahawalpur).

 

Some DGs and members of different boards were also transferred while some officers from federal services have been posted in Punjab.

National Management College Chief Instructor Tariq Najeeb Najmi has been posted as ACS, Utility Stores MD Habib Gilani as P&D Chairman, Capt (r) Saeed Nawaz as SMBR, Wapda MD Capt (r) Sher Alam Mehsood as Irrigation secretary, Population Census Commissioner Arif Anwar Baloch as Local Government secretary, Zafar Nasrullah has been posted as Environment secretary, Amna Imran as LDA DG, Ayub Ch as YASA&T secretary and FIA Director Fawad Ahmad as Faisalabad DC.

Literacy Secretary Dr Ismat Tahira has been posted as Management and Professional Development Department secretary, Women Development Secretary Bushra Aman as Tevta chairperson, Population Welfare Secretary Ambreen Raza as Schools secretary, Transport secretary Naseem Nawaz as Home secretary, OSD Khaqan Babar as BOR member, Sargodha Commissioner Nadeem Mehboob as Zakat secretary, Agriculture Secretary Muhammad Mehmood as Livestock secretary and Irrigation Secretary Asadullah Khan as Forest secretary.

Zakat Hasan Iqbal has been posted as Housing secretary, Forest Secretary Haroon ur Rafique as Transport secretary, PRA member Zafar Iqbal as Sargodha commissioner, Bahawalpur Commissioner Saqib Zafar as Specialized Health secretary, Punjab Cooperative Board Liquidation head Ahmad Raza Sarwar as Services secretary, Sahiwal Commissioner Ali Buhadur Qazi as Primary and Secondary Healthcare secretary, Small Industries Corporation MD Khalid Saleem as HED secretary.

Multan Commissioner Bilal Butt has been posted as Information secretary, Special Secretary to Punjab governor Dr Wasif Khursheed as Agriculture secretary, BOR Member Babar Shafi as Excise secretary, Salman Ijaz as Literacy secretary, Khalid Mehmood Ramay was posted as Cooperatives secretary, Shehryar Sultan as C&W secretary, DG Khan Commissioner Ahmad Ali as BOR Member, BOR member Javed Iqbal Bokhari as Industries secretary, CMO Additional secretary Zahid Saleem Gondal as Archaeology DG, Child Protection Bureau DG Kiran Khursheed as Cooperatives Registrar.

Local Government Secretary Nadeem Irshad Kayani has been posted as Gujranwala commissioner, Industries Secretary Dr Mujtaba Piracha as Lahore commissioner, Environment Secretary Saif Anjum as Rawalpindi commissioner, Housing Special Secretary and PHATA DG Asadullah Faiz as Multan commissioner, Labor Secretary Dr Farah Masood as Sahiwal commissioner, BOR Member Nayyar Iqbal as Bahawalpur commissioner, DG Environment Asif Iqbal as Faisalabad Commissioner, BOR Member Rana Gulzar Ahmad as DG Khan commissioner, Zafar Iqbal as Sargodha commissioner.

The following officers were posted as DCs. Jehanzeb Anwar has been made DC of Jhelum, Asif Tufail of Rawalpindi, Anwarul Haq of Lahore, Shaukat Ali of Jhang, Muzaffar Khan of Sargodha, Qaisar Saleem of Muzaffargarh, Imran Quraishi of Attock, Adnan Arshad Aulakh of Hafizabad, Tahir Watto of Sialkot, Zeeshan Javed of Narowal, Mehtab Waseem of Mandi Bahaudin, Rafaqat Ali of Layyah, Amir Aqia of Bhakkar, Mudassir Riaz Malik of Multan, Irfan Ali Khan of Vehari, Nouman Yusuf of Pakpattan, Rizwan Nazir of Okara, Jameel Ahmad Jameel of RY Khan, Azhar Hayat of Shaikhupura, Dr Shoaib Tariq Warraich of Gujranwala, Zahid Iqbal Awan of Mianwali, Ali Akbar Bhatti of DG Khan, Saqib Ali Ateel of Lodheran and Ali Ditta Warraich of Rajanpur.

 

 

Changes in Sindh

More than 50 top Sindh bureaucrats have been reshuffled in a bid to overhaul the provincial bureaucracy before the scheduled polls.

The notifications from the provincial services general administration and coordination department showed that the transfers were carried out at the posts of 15 provincial government secretaries, 30 deputy commissioners and five commissioner posts.

Education secretary Dr Iqbal Hussain Durrani, who is son-in law of former CM Qaim Ali Shah, has been transferred and made Board of Revenue senior member, Provincial Ombudsman Secretary Iqbal Nafees Khan has been posted as Enquiries and Anti-Corruption Department chairman, Education and Literacy (School) DG Khalid Hyder Shah as Local Government and Housing Town Planning secretary, and Social Welfare Secretary Alia Shahid as School Education and Literacy secretary along with additional charge of universities and boards.

Women Development Secretary Haroon Ahmed has been posted as Home secretary while home secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez as Information secretary, Finance Special Secretary Noor Alam as Finance secretary, Chief Minister Secretariat secretary Abdul Rahim Shaikh as Works and Services secretary, Nawaz Shaikh as Food secretary and Health secretary Fazlullah Pechuho - who is a brother-in-law of Asif Zardari- was posted as Livestock secretary.

Some of the secretaries who are directed to report to the SGA&CD include Anti-Corruption Secretary Alamuddin Bullo, Local Government Secretary Muhammad Ramzan Awan, Sindh Higher Education Commission Secretary Muhammad Hussain Syed, Information Secretary Altaf Ahmed Bijarani, Works and Services Secretary Aijaz Ahmed Memon and Food Secretary Sajjad Hussain Abbasi.

Karachi Commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan is being replaced by Principal Secretary to Governor Sualeh Ahmad Faruqui, Benazir Bhutto Development Board Secretary Navid Ahmed as Larkana commissioner, Member Board of Revenue Manzoor Ali Shaikh as Sukkur commissioner, Empowered Persons with Disabilities secretary Ahsan Ali Mangi as Hyderabad commissioner and Health special secretary Akram Ali as Shaheed Benazirabad commissioner.

The key transfers and posting at deputy commissioner level include appointment of Finance deputy secretary Quratul Ain Memon as Korangi (Karachi) DC, Governor Secretariat deputy secretary Abid Ali as Malir DC, Governor Secretariat deputy secretary Syed Salahuddin as Karachi South DC, CM House additional secretary Farhan Ghani Khan as Karachi Central DC, CM House additional secretary Shadia Abdullah as Karachi West DC, and Ahmed Ali Siddiqui as Karachi East DC.

 

 

Massive reshuffle in provinces’ bureaucracy

 

MAQBOOL MALIK, Javed Iqbal &

Abdullah Zafar