Abid Saeed to be notified as KP chief secretary

Chief minister makes recommendation

PESHAWAR/NOWSHERA: The Establishment Division is likely to notify posting of Abid Saeed as chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a day or two as Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has recommended him for the job.

When approached, the chief minister confirmed having sent the recommendation to the federal government seeking appointment of Abid Saeed as chief secretary.Meanwhile, an official told The News on Thursday that summary of Abid Saeed’s assignment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been moved for the approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He said Abid Saeed was among the senior officers whose names were included in the panel presented by the federal government for posting as chief secretary in province. The top bureaucratic position fell vacant on September 20 after the Establishment Division notified the repatriation of the then chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan at the request of the provincial government.

Abid Saeed, who belongs to Khairpur town in Sindh, is a senior Secretariat Group (SG) officer in grade-22, and has mostly served in Punjab and federal governments in different positions. In his early career he served as an assistant commissioner in three districts in Sindh and later as deputy commissioner in Punjab’s Faisalabad, Kasur and Lodhran districts.

He is currently serving as federal secretary Ministry of Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan. His previous postings include federal secretary petroleum, Punjab secretary Local Government and Community Development Department, secretary education Punjab and chief executive of Punjab Rural Support Programme.

Abid Saeed obtained masters degree in economics from Government College Lahore and another masters in administrative sciences from George Washington University in USA.His elder brother Nazir Ahmed retired as federal secretary.

Abid Saeed will be the fourth chief secretary to serve in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the three-year tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led coalition government. Three of them were appointed by the PTI government while one was given the job by the previous ANP-PPP coalition government.

Ghulam Dastagir was the chief secretary when the PTI-led coalition came into power in the province. After his retirement, the provincial government brought senior bureaucrat Muhammad Shehzad Arbab in June, 2013 to take over as chief secretary, but he left after he developed differences with Chief Minister Perfvez Khattak in April 2014. Amjad Ali Khan replaced Mohammad Shehzad Arbab.

An official said the provincial government chose Abid Saeed from a panel of three senior bureaucrats who are currently serving in the Punjab and federal governments. The other two in the panel were Irfan Elahi and Maroof Afzal.

Abid Saeed’s assumption of charge of his office in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will relieve additional chief secretary (ACS) Planning and Development Department, Muhammad Azam Khan, of the additional charge of the chief secretary.

It may be recalled that Abid Saeed was one of the four officers suspended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a severe fuel crisis hit Punjab in January last year. Abid Saeed was secretary petroleum at the time. The suspended officers had been accused of failing to foresee and manage the fuel crisis. Later, Abid Saeed was cleared and appointed federal secretary again.