PESHAWAR: Frequent postings and transfers have irked civil servants in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and widen the gap between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and civil bureaucracy.
The PTI-led KP government has adopted a policy of reshuffling bureaucrats without letting them complete their tenures. The provincial government has so far replaced 12 secretaries of information department in six and half years of their two tenures. This makes the average tenure of some secretaries of roughly about six months and some of them could spend only three months in office.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan told this scribe that the KP government believed in performance and merit-based postings and if someone failed to deliver, it’s important to replace him. “Nobody can influence government for his postings and transfers”, he added.
Newly-posted Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz told this correspondent that the government is implementing the posting and transfer policy in letter and spirit and unnecessary reshuffling of bureaucracy would be avoided in future.
“We have transferred only few officers in my tenure on an urgent-need basis and the government believes in the right man for the right job policy,” he said
A top bureaucrat on condition of anonymity said the PTI government was not feeling comfortable with bureaucracy in both their tenures because of their vested interest. “A top bureaucrat serving in the PM House and ex-baboo in the province have their own groups and they influence the transfer and posting policy while some of the political figures from Islamabad are also involved in this process,” he said. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had already claimed that bureaucracy was the biggest mafia and hurdle to create “Naya Pakistan”.
However, another officer has rejected the allegations of interference from Islamabad. “No one interferes in the posting and transfer process but some time it is just the result of consultation with the party leadership,” he added.
According to official data available with The News, 12 secretaries of information and public relations department have been changed during six and half years of the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is pertinent that the PTI has replaced six Chief Secretaries of the province during the six and half year’s tenure since 2013.
Senior most bureaucrat Azmat Hanif Orakzai was working as Information Secretary when the PTI took over in 2013. He was posted by the ANP government on April 5, 2010 and transferred on Nov 7, 2013, by the Pervaiz Khattak government. He had spent the longest tenure of almost three and half years as information secretary.
Another officer Tariq Jameel was posted as information secretary and he assumed the charge on Nov 12, 2013 but he was removed after five months in April 4, 2014. Later, another bureaucrat Hazrat Masood Main was posted secretary and he took the charge on April 4, 2014, but he could spend only five months in office and was transferred in November, 2014.
The PTI government had posted Mohammad Israr on Nov 18, 2014, but he was removed after three months in February, 2015. Another officer Mohammad Abid Majeed was posted on Feb 2, 2015, but he was posted out in May, 2016.
Tahir Hassan was posted on May 10, 2016, and was transferred in October, 2017, after spending one and half year. Qaisar Alam of the protocol wing was posted on Oct 3, 2017, but was transferred in June, 2018.
Masood Ahmed was posted information secretary on June 22, 2018, but was removed after serving only three months.
Qaisar Alam was again posted on Sept 9, 2018, and after six months he was removed from the post of KP Information secretary.
Mukhtiar Khan was posted on March 1, 2019, but later on July 31, 2019, he was posted out. He spent only five months.
Imtiaz Ayub, a BPS-19 officer of PAS, was posted on July 31, 2019 and he was removed after spending four months in November 25, 2019.
The government has transferred and posted Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah new secretary. Incumbent officer Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah was posted on Nov 25, 2019, and he is still working as information secretary.
