ISLAMABAD: A desperate run is on for the coveted post of Principal Secretary (PS) to the Prime Minister, as rumours gained credence about the incumbent PS, Khushnood Lashari, becoming a full time the establishment secretary, another bureaucratic power house that he is currently holding as an additional charge. According to highly informed sources, a covert but vicious tug of war is on for Lashari’s job between a federal secretary and an additional secretary. The federal secretary with a stellar ‘Multan pedigree’ is fancying himself as the principle choice for the Multani prime minister. The federal secretary, communicating his secret desires to those near and dear to the prime minister is someone who knows ‘communications’ like none other and therefore, according to a reliable source, feels he has the position almost locked. Not so soon, however is the impression being given by the other contender’s camp. The other aspirant for the same office, an additional secretary, too is giving it his all because he has another thing going in his favour: he is currently serving in the prime minister’s secretariat. Due to his command over ‘internal affairs’, he feels confident that he has the edge of being the internal man in the prime minister’s secretariat staff. The curtain may fall sooner than later for one of the two as the prime minister is likely to give his nod for moving Khushnood Lashari to the important office of the Establishment Division secretary. A senior bureaucrat remarked that it was first time in the history of the country that two of the most powerful bureaucratic offices - the principal secretary to PM and Establishment Division secretary - are in the charge of a single individual.
