KARACHI: The provincial government on Saturday appointed senior bureaucrat and former commissioner of Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani as the administrator of Karachi.

Mr Shallwani, a grade-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, was on Aug 25 transferred from the post of commissioner and posted as additional chief secretary (ACS) of the local government and housing and town planning department.

He was appointed as the ACS of LG department following the arrest of then LG secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh by the National Accountability Bureau in a case pertaining to illegal allotment of government land.

The senior bureaucrat had previously served as the secretary of the provincial health and law departments.

The Chief Minister’s Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab had earlier told reporters that the notification of Mr Shallwani’s appointment as the administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation would be issued shortly.

Mr Shallwani attended the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences where he got his MBBS degree in 1990.

Mr Shallwani had qualified for Central Superior Services and was selected as a DMG officer in 1993. During service period he worked in different departments in Pakistan.

In 2004, the senior bureaucrat left for London for his Masters in Regional and Urban Planning Studies and completed his degree in 2005.

From 2007 till 2013 he served as counsellor in embassy of Pakistan in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

On his promotion to BS-21 he served as additional secretary in the ministry of industries and production.

Iftikhar Shallwani has vast experience in international relations, public policies, human rights, foreign policy and economic development.

Apart from several regional languages and English, Mr Shallwani is able to communicate in Japanese and Spanish.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2020