ISLAMABAD: The chief secretaries and police chiefs of at least three provinces are set to be replaced on Wednesday (today) in view of the upcoming general elections in the country, Dawn has learnt.

Officials close to the development said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has made a list of those senior officials who have to be changed and those who would replace them. The list has been sent to Prime Minister’s Office for implementation, they added.

They said the chief secretaries and inspectors general of the police of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were most likely to be changed.

The senior officials were being replaced to remove any doubts about their political affiliation as they had been appointed by the previous governments, the officials said.

There were few names who might replace the serving officials as the provincial chief secretaries, including Akbar Durrani, and IGPs, including Dr Shoaib Dastgir and Kaleem Imam, they added.

The officials said a meeting regarding security arrangements for the conduct of the general elections 2018 was scheduled to be held at the ECP office on Wednesday (today). But the meeting was postponed for a day and now it would be held on Thursday.

It had been postponed for a day so that only those officials who would be responsible for making security arrangements for the election attend it, they stated, adding that after the replacement the newly appointed chief secretary and IGPs would attend the meeting.

The agenda of the meeting is an overview of the arrangements being made for the election, they said.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2018