PESHAWAR: Following days of tension over the selection of chief secretary, the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments have agreed to appoint a senior civil servant, Shakil Qadir Khan, as chief secretary of the province.
Presently, serving as chief secretary Balochistan, Shakeel Qadir joined the Pakistan Administrative Service in 1998. He was posted in Malakand Division and erstwhile Fata in the initial days of his service. He has served as the chief economist, DC of Mansehra, political agent of Bajaur and Director General of PDMA during the middle management tenures.
At senior levels, he served as secretary for Law and Order and secretary P&D Fata, secretary P&D Balochistan, Chairman, Balochistan Development Authority, secretary Home and Tribal Affairs, secretary Finance, Additional chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, chief secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and additional secretary of Power Division.
Shakil Qadir Khan has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a postgraduate Diploma in Financial Services from the University of Surrey. He is also an alumnus of Bucerius Summer Law School, Hamburg, and a graduate of the National Institute of Management, Lahore, and National Defense University.
Shakil Qadir has attained varied experience during his various tenures; however, financial management, disaster management, institutional development, planning and development, social services delivery, and security-related issues are his forte. He belongs to the Parkho Dherai village near Lund Khwar town in Mardan district.
“There was a tension between the federal government and chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur over the selection of chief secretary as the chief minister wanted the federal government to appoint a senior bureaucrat Shahab Ali Shah as chief secretary. The federal government didn’t agree with him when he had initially sent a summary consisting of Shahab Ali Shah’s name,” a senior government official in Islamabad told The News.
Pleading anonymity, he said the federal government had later returned the summary and advised the chief minister to fulfil codal formalities and send three names.
Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur later sent another summary to the federal government comprising names of three civil servants, including Shahab Ali Shah, Dr Shahzad Bangash and Munir Azam Khan. According to sources, Ali Amin Gandapur had during his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanded the appointment of Shahab Ali Shah as the chief secretary. “When Ali Amin Gandapur realised that the federal government was not going to accept his demand, someone advised him to demand another senior civil servant known for his reputation and integrity, Shakil Qadir Khan. The prime minister agreed with him on Shakil Qadir Khan’s appointment as he is non-political and non-controversial,” said the government official. However, the official said the prime minister had conditionally agreed with Ali Amin Gandapur on the appointment of Shakil Qadir, linking it to the willingness of Balochistan CM Sarfaraz Bugti.
