GUJRAT: The Punjab government has transferred the commissioner of Gujranwala and Gujrat divisions, Naveed Haider Sheerazi, after he served on the post for at least 38 months.

Mr Sheerazi has currently been abroad on ex-Pakistan leave for more than a week.

According to a notification issued by the Punjab government, Mr Sheerazi, a BS-20 officer of Provincial Management Service (PMS), has been transferred with immediate effect and posted as secretary of the Punjab Cooperatives Department.

Youth Affairs and Sports Department Secretary Muhammad Ali, a BS-20 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS), has been posted as the commissioner of Gujranwala and Gujrat divisions.

Fazalur Rehman, a BS-20 officer of PMS, has been posted as the secretary of youth affairs and sports department. He was special secretary at the Punjab home department.

The new commissioner assumed the charge of his office on Friday and chaired an introductory meeting with the deputy commissioners of seven districts of both the divisions, and his office staff.

Mr Ali had previously served as Lahore and Faisalabad commissioner.

With the posting of the new commissioner, Gujranwala DC Naveed Ahmed has also been relieved of the additional charge of the post, which he had been given after Mr Sheerazi went abroad.

Official sources say that Mr Sheerazi had been the only commissioner in Punjab who remained posted for around two years in Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s government.

He was posted by the caretaker provincial government headed by Mohsin Naqvi, in February 2023.

They said that that most of the administrative officers at divisional, district and tehsil levels were transferred during the first year of the tenure of the incumbent Punjab government.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2026