PESHAWAR: Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa interim government have picked another fight with the provincial bureaucracy for the second time in 30 days over the alleged disregard for their orders.

And this time around, the row is over an officer’s transfer.

Earlier last month, caretaker chief minister retired Justice Dost Mohammad Khan had sought the removal of the provincial chief secretary, home secretary, police chief and Peshawar commissioner after the killing of ANP leader Haroon Bilour in a suicide attack but the Election Commission of Pakistan turned down the request.

Now, caretaker agriculture, food and irrigation minister Anwarul Haq has written a letter to the chief minister’s principal secretary complaining that his boss’s orders regarding transfers and postings in his department were not followed.

Threatens CM’s staff member with action over failure to transfer secretary

The details available with Dawn show that the bids of the members of the caretaker government to transfer and post the relevant officials did not end with such aborted attempt by the chief minister as they made another transfer bid on July 27 and that, too, without the ECP’s approval.

However, it took the ECP another week to lift the ban on transfers on August 2 when it allowed the caretaker governments to make routine transfers and postings on their own.

On July 30, KP agriculture minister Anwarul Haq wrote a letter to principal secretary to the chief minister Mohammad Akbar Khan complaining that the orders for the agriculture secretary’s transfer have not been followed.

Currently, Mr Akbar is holding the charge of the agriculture secretary and additional charge of the principal secretary to the chief minister.

He was given the charge of the agriculture secretary by the caretakers in the June 22 reshuffle of bureaucracy approved by the ECP.

The letter showed the minister persuading the caretaker chief minister to appoint Mr Akbar Khan as his principal secretary, an act done without the approval of the ECP.

It said on July 27, the chief minister had ordered the transfer of Mr Mohammad Israr as the agriculture secretary.

Mr Israr had served as the secretary of the agriculture department until June 22 when he was transferred and posted as the excise and taxation secretary.

The letter said the chief minister had also directed the giving of the additional charge of the irrigation department to Mr Israr or Mr Daud Khan but the orders were never followed, which was tantamount to insulting the chief minister.

“I would have resigned instead of ignoring the orders of the chief minister,” the minister noted.

He warned that if the chief minister’s orders in question weren’t acted upon immediately, the law would take its own course.

Interestingly, chief minister retired Justice Dost Mohammad Khan ordered the establishment secretary the same day to issue the notification in line with his orders the very next day.

However, a source raised questions about the chief minister’s orders, saying if it was appropriate for the caretakers to take such liberties, while an elected government was waiting in the wings.

“Instead of going about transferring officers at the twilight hour of their tenure, the caretakers should better leave the matter to the upcoming elected government to bring in their own team,” he said.

The source said the caretaker cabinet’s selection had also raised eyebrows as many ministers lacked proper ‘exposure and profile’. When contacted, Mr Akbar Khan denied receiving any letter from the minister on the matter.

The agriculture minister and establishment secretary were not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2018