Group of officers laud CS removal

PESHAWAR: A faction of the officers belonging to the Provincial Civil Service (PCS) and Provincial Management Service (PMS) cadres have lauded the provincial government’s decision to repatriate the services of chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan to the federal government.

A press release issued here said the meeting of PCS Officers Association was held under the chairmanship of Abdullah Mehsud.

It appreciated the decision of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to remove the chief secretary “since the office of the chief secretary was used arbitrarily for promoting vested interests and victimisation of the officers which led to governance crisis.”

The press release said the chief secretary’s unceremonious removal was an acknowledgment of the governance crisis, though belatedly by the incumbent government.

“It was also a vindication of our stance that his presence would impede all positive reforms of the government. His tenure was regarded as the darkest era for civil service. Since the chief secretary and his team would not comply with the directions of the chief minister and ministers, it led to a strange situation which also led to a strike by 700 PMS officers,” the meeting noted.

“Subsequently, conditional peace was made with the chief secretary for the sake of stability.

However, the same was not honoured and not a single issue was resolved rather the intervening time was used to further weaken the provincial civil services and victimise the officers,” the release stressed.

The press release added: “The association will come up with a white paper on the governance crisis soon to help the government pre-empt such crisis in the future.”