Services of Fazl’s brother repatriated to KP

KARACHI: After six months and five days, the Establishment Division has repatriated the services of Zia-ur-Rehman – an officer of Provincial Management Service (PMS) – to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Zia-ur-Rehman is the bother of JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman. According to official correspondence, copies of which are available with The News, Zia Rehman, a grade-19 officer of KP’s Provincial Management Service (PMS), had joined the Sindh government in January 2020 and was without posting for six months.

On July 23, the Sindh government posted him as deputy commissioner of Karachi Central district by transferring Farhan Ghani, an ex-PCS officer. On January 22, 2020, the Establishment Division, on the requisition of Sindh government and after getting a NOC from the KP government through a notification, transferred and placed the services of Mr. Rehman at the disposal of Sindh government; and on July 27, he was again repatriated to KP by the Establishment Division.

Earlier, the KP government had approached the Establishment Division to send Zia-ur-Rehman back to KP, as it was facing a shortage of officers. Mr. Rehman, originally an Assistant Divisional Engineer (ADE) of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), enjoyed major positions first as project director in the Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (CAR) in 2005 and then Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Khushab district of Punjab in the last tenure of PML-N government.

His posting as DC Central, Karachi has created a controversy as the MQM-P, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), PTI Sindh chapter, Sindhi nationalist parties, and other social activist groups termed the posting ‘political’ and strongly criticized the provincial government for posting a non-cadre officer of another province upon a cadre post.

On the other hand, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) sources told The News that party leaders were also not happy with this posting though they were compelled to defend this step publicly and the provincial government was also facing strong resistance of province's bureaucracy on the issue.