LAHORE: Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal has yet again requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to transfer him from Punjab as he was unable to work with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Q coalition government in the province.

Mr Afzal has continuously been asking the PMLN-led coalition government in the centre to withdraw his services from the province as Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi had threatened he would call the chief secretary (and the inspector general of police) in the Punjab Assembly and censure him for “siding with the PML-N and ensuring election of Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister”.

Later, the Governor House was cordoned off and the then governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema was kept out of the premises to ensure a smooth oath taking of Hamza. The chief secretary had also not attended the oath-taking ceremony of 21 cabinet members of the PTI-PMLQ coalition government. Additional Chief Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza had also followed suit and was later made an officer on special duty (OSD).

The chief secretary had reportedly also conveyed to the federal government that the chief minister was not taking him into confidence with regard to transfer and posting of senior officers and he had been pushed against the wall.

In this backdrop, Mr Afzal had last month wrote a formal letter to the federal government, seeking an honourable exit from Punjab with immediate effect. “I am writing to convey that owing to personal reasons, it is not possible for me to continue on my current assignment,” CS Afzal had stated in his letter addressed to Secretary Establishment Inamullah Khan.

Following Mr Afzal’s letter, the chief minister had sent names of three senior officers -- Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, P&D Board Chairman Abdullah Khan Sumbal and former Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) Babar Hayat Tarar -- to the federal government for posting one of them as Punjab chief secretary.

However, the federal government had later asked the chief secretary to continue working in Punjab as by-election had been announced in the province and no officer could be transferred under such circumstances.

Since the by-elections in Punjab have been postponed, Mr Afzal yet again requested the prime minister in a recent meeting that he should be transferred out of the province.

Mr Afzal, during a meeting held here on Monday to review the dengue situation, told the officers that this was his last meeting in the province as chief secretary because he had (again) requested the centre for his transfer.

He, however, asked the officers and the deputy commissioners, who were attending the meeting through video-link, to continue working diligently and ensure that dengue was controlled.

Though the chief secretary has been asked to continue working till his successor takes charge, Mr Afzal left the secretariat after attending the meeting, sources say.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2022