ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directed the Establishment Division (ED) to remove principal secretary to caretaker chief minister Sindh from his incumbent official position and to direct him to report to the ED.
The said official is the third high-ranking civil servant whose removal has been ordered by the ECP in less than a week.
In a letter written to the secretary establishment by Muhammad Farid Afridi, the Additional Director General (Elections-II) at ECP, dated October 28, the latter has conveyed to the former the directives of the electoral body that the services of Syed Hassan Naqvi, the Principal Secretary to the Caretaker Chief Minister, be withdrawn immediately.
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Earlier on October 24, the ECP directed the secretary establishment to transfer Inspector General of Police Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan and Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Nawaz Memon. On October 26, the ECP again directed the ED to transfer the IGP and DC Islamabad without any further delay. However, till the filing of this report on Monday night, the officials concerned were not transferred.
On October 2, Secretary Establishment Inamullah Khan Dharejo and Secretary Interior Aftab Akbar Durrani briefed the ECP that the officers concerned of federal bureaucracy, including those assigned to provinces, belonging to occupational groups, were reshuffled as per the commissions’ directives.
The commission directed the two secretaries to furnish a compliance report in three days.
Recently, the ECP directed the caretaker federal government to repatriate those officers of grade 17 to 22 who belonged to occupational groups and were assigned to provinces for more than three years— on the pretext of ensuring the conduct of free and fair general elections in the country.
Allegedly; however, the ECP directives pave the way for the retention of those civil servants, at their present positions, who were appointed by the former Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) federal government this year and last year—since the three-year term rule does not apply to them
The incumbent secretary establishment was appointed by the PDM government. Incumbent IGP Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman and IGP Islamabad are among the top officers who were appointed by the former federal government.
As per customary practice on its part, the electoral body orders reshuffling the civil servants and other government functionaries occupying key slots in the federal and provincial departments once caretaker set-up is in place ahead of the general elections.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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