ISLAMABAD: In a major reshuffle of the federal bureaucracy, Prime Minis­ter Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday approved new assignments for about a dozen grade-22 and 21 officers.

Shoaib Siddiqui was transferred from the ministry of interior, where he was posted as special secretary, and posted as the secretary of the national security division.

Mr Siddiqui’s transfer was, however, seen against the backdrop of the recent report of the judicial commission led by Supreme Court Justice Qaiz Faez Isa on the Quetta Civil Hospital carnage which questioned the appointment of a special secretary in the interior ministry.

Aviation Secretary Irfan Ilahi has been given the additional responsibility of the chairman of the Pakis­tan International Airlines. The position fell vacant after the resignation of then chairman Azam Saigol.

Iftikhar Hussain Babar has been posted as the secretary of Wafaqi Mohtasib in place of Pir Baksh Jamali.

Mr Jamali has been appointed as the Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan secretary.

Communications Secretary Khalid Masood has been transferred and posted as the religious affairs secretary. National Highway Authority chairman Shahid Ashraf Tarar has been given the additional charge of the communications secretary.

Religious Affairs Secretary Mirza Sohail Amir has been posted as the secretary of the overseas Pakistani and human resources ministry in place of Khizar Hayat who has been appointed as the managing director of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

The PPRA managing director, Amir Hasan, has been appointed as the national history and literary heritage secretary in place of Mohsin Haqqani who was asked to report to the establishment division.

The secretary of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Rabia Javeri, has been appointed as additional secretary in charge of the human rights ministry.

Informed sources told Dawn that the establishment division had notified the transfers and postings after the PM’s approval.

Published in Dawn December 22nd, 2016