ISLAMABAD, March 6: The government on Tuesday announced a major reshuffle in bureaucracy and appointed new chief secretaries of Sindh and the NWFP.

The federal information secretary has been transferred and the post of the secretary of the Privatisation Commission has been handed over to an additional secretary of the Finance Division.

Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani was quick to brush aside speculations that the officers had been posted on key posts to accomplish some tasks ahead of the general election, especially in the NWFP and Sindh.

“I don’t think these transfers have anything to do with next general elections as polls are still one year away,” Mr Durrani told Dawn.

He said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had approved the promotions and transfers in accordance with the exiting rules. Officers were usually transferred from one post to another after two years and before three years and the latest shake-up was a part of that process.

However, sources in the Establishment Division said these were not normal or routine transfers and postings, but a well-devised strategy to instal “reliable” people on key posts in the NWFP and Sindh before the election.

Secretary for Railways Shakeel Durrani has been posted as the chief secretary of Sindh. He has a vast experience and has served as chief secretary of the AJK and the NWFP.

Chief Secretary of Sindh Fazlur Rehman has been posted as secretary of the Overseas Pakistanis Division.

Sahibzada Riaz Noor, chairman of the Pakistan Tobacco Board, is the new chief secretary of the NWFP. Sources said he was a relative of the Peshawar city police chief Malik Saad, who was killed in a suicide attack in Muharram.

“Mr Noor is a trusted man of the government and the establishment,” a source said.

Ijaz Qureshi, chief secretary of the NWFP, has been posted as secretary of the Railways Division. Arif Mansoor, additional secretary in the Finance Division, was promoted to BS-22 and posted as the Privatisation Commission secretary.

National Vocational and Technical Education Commission executive director Khushnood Akhtar Lashari has been posted as the information and broadcasting secretary.