Election arrangments: Interior secy retires day before briefing to ECP

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Secretary Yousuf Naseem Khokhar attained superannuation a day before he was called by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) about arrangements for provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections and he relinquished the charge of the ministry on Tuesday.

The ECP has summoned the defence and interior secretaries today (Thursday) for consultation and to explain the position of the government relating to the requirement of the commission for making arrangements for the polls.

Some senior official would likely represent the interior ministry in the commission’s called huddle.

The ECP has already announced the schedule for the Punjab Assembly polls on April 30 while the KPK Assembly elections are yet to be fixed. Yousuf Naseem Khokhar, who hails from South Punjab, was viewed as a competent and upright officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) who in his service of more than 30 years served the country in various capacities, including federal secretary of five ministries.

He worked as interior secretary thrice in different governments. He also served as Punjab’s chief secretary. Interestingly, he declined to serve as Punjab chief secretary in the PTI government three years ago.

Sources said that the federal government would have to designate a new interior secretary without much delay as the subject of two provincial assemblies’ polls would be an important assignment of the interior ministry.