ISLAMABAD: Out of 38 serving federal secretaries, 26 belong to Punjab alone, while there is not a single official at the highest level of the bureaucracy at the federal level who hails from Balochistan.

Moreover, there are 20 officers of grade 18 and above at the federal level who have obtained dual nationality.

This information was placed before the National Assembly by the government in response to questions asked by MNAs during Monday’s sitting, which could not be taken up due to the strong PTI protest against the government’s act of not allowing them to hold a debate on the issue of a letter written by six Islamabad High Court judges to the Supreme Judicial Council.

In a written reply to a question asked by PPP’s Shehla Raza, the minister in charge of the Establishment Division provided a complete list of the federal secretaries with their domiciles.

20 officers in grade 18 or above hold dual nationality, Estab Division reveals

The data shows that out of 38 federal secretaries, 26 belong to Punjab, followed by seven from rural Sindh, three from urban Sindh and two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The minister stated that no quota has been reserved for the provinces with regard to posting/appointment of federal secretaries.

It may be recalled that the lawmakers from Balochistan have been regularly protesting in the National Assembly and Senate over alleged victimisation of the officers from the province and non-fulfillment of the job quota.

In response to another question asked by Rana Ansar of the MQM-P, the government informed the assembly that there were 20 officers working in grade 18 and above who possessed the citizenship of other countries. The data shows that 10 officials are the UK nationals whereas six of them have obtained the nationality of Canada and four of them are the US nationals.

Though there has been no bar on the bureaucrats holding dual nationality, there has been a call from some segments of society that no dual national should be allowed key position in the government as there is a bar on the politicians, judges and military officers.

The UK national officers are Special Secretary Commerce Sarah Saeed (BS-22); Saima Ali (chief of Section P&D Board, Punjab, BS-19); Tuaha Ahmed Farooqui (Secretary Empowerment of Persons with Dis­abilities, Sindh, BS-20); Jan Muham­mad (Additional DG FIA, Islamabad Headquarters, BS-21); Zaeem Iqbal Sheikh (Director FIA, Islamabad, BS-20); Sohail Ahmed Sheikh (AIG Finance, Quetta, BS-19); retired Lt Imran Shaukat (Report to CPO Karachi, BS-19); Fawaduddin Riaz Qureshi (Director Intelligence Bureau, PP Lahore, BS-19); Waqar Ahmed (Project Director PMU for Safe City Project, Peshawar, BS-19); and Jawed Ahmed Baloch (DD FIA Karachi, BS-18).

Those possessing Canadian citizenship are: Rabia Aurangzeb (at the disposal of Interior Division, ICT Administration, BS-18); Samar Ihsan (Additional Secretary Estab­lishment Division, BS-21); Shahid Javed (DIG, National Highways and Motorways Police, Lahore, BS-20); Nadeem Hussain (SSP CTD Lahore, BS-19); Barkat Hussain Khosa (DIG Coastal Highway, Quetta, BS-19); and Haider Ashraf (at the disposal of CPO Lahore, BS-19).

The four US nationals are Muha­mmad Wishaq (Joint Secretary Overseas Pakistanis, and HRD, BS-20); Ghulam Mujtaba Joyo (OSD, Establishment Division, BS-20); Adil Memon (SSP Mirpurkhas, BS-19); and Atif Nazir (SSP (Admin) Lahore, BS-19).

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2024