ISLAMABAD: The special selection board, held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has approved promotions of 23 officers to Grade 22.
Those promoted include SM Tahir, Najeeb Khawar Awan, Abdul Khaliq (Secretariat Group), Farkhanda Waseem, Azmat Orkazai, Shahid Khan, Tariq Bajwa, Raja Hassan Abbas, Nadeem Hassan Asif, Syed Arshad Ali (Pakistan Administrative Service); Rafiq Hassan Butt, Saud Mirza, Qalb-e-Abbas Khan Baig, Akbar Khan Hoti, (Police Service of Pakistan); Shahid Hussain Asad, Yasmeen Saud (Inland Revenue Service), Farah Ayub Tareen, (Audit and Account service) Murad Ali, Seema Naqvi, Aizaz Chaudhry, Muhammad Sadiq (Foreign Service of Pakistan) and Ameer Muhammad Khan Marwat (Pakistan Customs Service).
Prominent among them are President Mamnoon Hussain’s secretary Nadeem Hasan Asif, FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwah, Secretary Interior Shahid Khan, and others. The board while considering officers for promotion in BS-22 examined their entire service record, which was placed before it.
The training reports at different tiers of service/ career, performance evaluation reports, leadership qualities and varied experience/exposure were the basis before elevating the officers for BS-22. There is no super session in any service/cadre.
All officers who have not been promoted have been deferred for six months or till next board whichever is earlier. The rationale in the deferment which was approved and exercised by the prime minister was discrepancy in the training record and performance evaluation reports.
The prime minister has directed Establishment Division that the special report for next six months of deferred officers may be obtained and placed before the selection board for reconsideration. The whole exercise carried out by the board in a complete transparent and every aspect of service was given due consideration and weight age.
The board held its meeting on November 27 and it was rare occasion that the approval announcement took 23 days. No reason has been assigned for the delay but it is believed that some technical reasons were involved in it. Highly placed sources told ‘The News’ that the promotions have been made purely on the basis of merit and rules set out for the elevation of the officers.
The promoted officers are already working at the highest echelon of their respective ministry/department and would continue in their existing slots. The Foreign Office was looking for promotion of its seven officers in the highest grade but the government decided to curtail it to four. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry who has been designated as Foreign Secretary has been working as Acting Foreign Secretary since outgoing Syed Jalil Abbas Jilani proceeded on leave.
Aizaz Chaudhry will assume the office on Thursday next. Pakistan’s ambassador in Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq Khan is among the recipients of Grade 22 and would become Secretary to the Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS) under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He will be relinquishing the position of ambassador next month.
Syed Ibrar Ahmad, currently Pakistan’s ambassador in Kuwait, has been appointed Pakistan’s new ambassador for Afghanistan. He is likely to take up his job in Kabul next month. Abdul Basit Khan has been appointed Pakistan’s high commissioner in India. He was earlier tipped as new Foreign Secretary but he couldn’t obtain the nod of the selection board. He is currently Pakistan’s ambassador in Germany. Pakistan’s outgoing high commissioner in India, Salman Bashir, is returning home by end of the month. Additional Foreign Secretary administration Ibn-e-Abbas was appointed Pakistan’s high commissioner in India to replace Salman Bashir two month ago. Interestingly Ibn-e-Abbas agreemaunt (Consent for appointment by the host government) was also received by the government of Pakistan last week but the government suddenly changed its mind and his nomination has been dropped. Pakistan’s high commissioner in Singapore Hasan Javaid has been appointed country’s ambassador for Germany.
Additional Foreign Secretary Naghmana Hashmi has been appointed Pakistan’s ambassador for the European Union and Belgium in place of Munawar Bhatti. Acting Foreign Secretary Aizaaz Ahmad Chaudhary was earlier designated as ambassador for Belgium and his agreemaunt had also reached to Pakistan but he has been appointed Foreign Secretary, the sources said.
