ISLAMABAD: A well-orchestrated whispering campaign, being run by some agenda-driven TV channels and WhatsApp groups, is aimed at gunning for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad (FHF) to deprive the premier of a talented, workaholic aide.
In just three days, the premier’s spokesman was impelled twice to repudiate the speculation, being aired as breaking news by some TV channels, that it has been decided to sack FHF as the aftermath of a letter issued by him, containing the prime minister’s directive, approving the recommendations of the DawnLeak inquiry committee report.
The first gossip claimed that FHF and Establishment Secretary Syed Tahir Shahbaz were being removed. The second hearsay was confined only to FHF’s dumping which alleged that he has applied for one-year leave to get himself out of the “messy” situation.
The campaigners did not put forward any plausible and convincing reason for FHF’s removal. Underlying in this drive is the desperation of these elements to see the secretary out of his present slot, which is dream of every senior bureaucrat.
One WhatsApp message circulated by the anti-FHF lobby charged that he issued the letter on the DawnLeak inquiry’s recommendations without the prime minister’s approval. It is unthinkable that a careful and alert but brilliant senior bureaucrat like him, who has worked very closely with the incumbent premier and had been associated with the Punjab chief minister for years will ever commit the mistake of writing and releasing any letter or making even a telephone call to anybody on behalf of his boss without his express, specific approval and direction.
Despite working in the present most prestigious office for the past four years and previously in different positions for a long time, there is not even a small blemish on FHF’s career. However, his rivals in the bureaucracy and even in the cabinet abound because of his firmness and not to do any favour against the rules. It is foolish to assume that he will do anything to embarrass the prime minister.
Those who have an idea about the official working say that after the prime minister, the chief ministers or their cabinets, as the case may, approve the entire summaries or inquiry reports or their parts presented to them, it is a standard practice that their secretaries will issue the directives based on such sanctions. To even think that a secretary will deviate from the actual approval granted by the boss is frivolous and naïve.
Particularly, in sensitive matters involving civ-mil relations like the recommendations of the DawnLeak inquiry, even the letters issued by the secretaries are naturally shown to the concerned boss so that there is no confusion or misunderstanding anywhere. Such decisions are also not made public without the explicit approval of the highest authority. Immediately after the letter in question was signed by FHF, it was released to the media so that everybody knew that all the recommendations of the inquiry committee have been approved by the prime minister.
“FHF’s letter was perfect, as per the rules and this is how such correspondence takes place,” a senior bureaucrat, who has an elaborate experience of working with top political functionaries of successive governments, told The News. “Finding fault with it clearly shows some other agenda being followed.”
However, he was of the opinion that it would have been better had FHF’s letter confined itself to saying that the premier has approved the recommendations in paragraph 18. Then, this letter should have been sent to the interior ministry and other relevant departments along with the inquiry report for implementation of its recommendations, he said.
The official said that the prime minister and chief ministers approve many summaries every day, and it is always left to their secretaries to issue their operative parts for concerned ministries to pursue. The secretaries, he said, have no independent authority and order what their chiefs have sanctioned. They give their independent opinions on certain matters only when it is sought by the boss, he said.
In the instant case of DawnLeak, the official said, FHF has nothing to add because the inquiry committee had finalized its recommendations. His job was only to notify the approval of the prime minister.
He believed that the present campaign against FHF is intended to rob Nawaz Sharif of one of his “sheet anchors”, who renders correct advice and has a neat and clean record. He said even FHF’s bitter rivals in the bureaucracy would not point the finger at his integrity.
FHF is known for giving his opinion politely but firmly, with tremendous clarity, on several matters when it is sought. Like many key areas in which the prime minister is obsessed with speedy progress, FHF’s grip, input and knowledge about the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects is matchless and much more than many government experts.