Deepening row: CM refuses to repatriate senior officials from Sindh

KARACHI: In a move, which is set to deepen the row between the federal and Sindh governments over the transfer of officials from the province, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has written to Prime Minister Imran Khan that he doesn’t agree with the plan to recall seven senior police officials and four bureaucrats from Sindh.

In his letter written on Tuesday with the subject “Transfer of officers of PAS (BS-20) and PSP (BS-20) from Government of Sindh”, the CM, however, agreed to the proposal of the federal government to transfer four police and four administrative officials in the province.

The CM in his latest official correspondence, while stating that these senior officials belong to the All-Pakistan Service, underlined the relevant rules that necessitate “meaningful consultation” between the prime minister and the respective chief minister about placement/withdrawal of the All-Pakistan Service Officers from and to a province. He lamented that the federal government had not posted even 50 per cent of the share of Sindh in All-Pakistan Service officers in last several years. “As we are discussing, out of 67 seats of BS-20, services of only 20 All-Pakistan service officers are available to Sindh. Thus, there is a massive shortfall of 47 PAS officers in the province. In case of PSP officers (BS-20), only 22 are posted against a total strength of 26 i.e., a shortfall of 04 PSP officers (BS-20),” the CM said.

He said the Sindh government had approached the federal government several times to post the required number of officers. In February 2021, the Government of Sindh wrote to Establishment Division to provide the requisite number of officers against their reserved posts, he said. “On 25.10.2021, the issue was brought into the kind notice of Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan, wherein Attorney General of Pakistan assured that sufficient number of officers will be posted in Sindh Government on receipt of details of vacant posts from the Sindh Government.

The honourable Supreme Court directed the Attorney General to ensure that the problem is resolved,” said the CM. He said that while his government was awaiting the response from the federal government on its request (to get the vacant positions filled in the province), the Establishment Division issued the notification on November 9, 2021 withdrawing four PAS (Pakistan Administrative Service) and seven PSP (Police Service of Pakistan) of BS-20 from Sindh, while four PAS and eight PSP officers of BS-20 were posted to Sindh.

“It may also be mentioned here that recently five PSP officers of BPS-20 were withdrawn from Sindh. Thus, the proposal of withdrawing more PSP officers would mean that half of the BPS-20 officers will be new to the province and would know nothing about the administrative challenges (in the province),” said the CM. He said that he didn’t agree with the order of the federal government to withdraw the services of four PAS services from Sindh namely Hassan Naqvi, Zahid Ali Abbasi, Kazim Hussain Jatoi, and Khalid Hyder Shah. The CM said that he also didn’t approve the plan of transfer of seven senior police officials from Sindh namely Abdullah Shaikh, Muhammad Nouman Siddiqui, Saqib Ismail Memon, Javed Akbar Riaz, Naeem Ahmed Shaikh, Lt (retd) Maqsood Ahmed, and Omar Shahid Ahmed.

He asked the prime minister to consider the circumstances of his request and direct the Establishment Division to fill the vacancies in BS-1 7 to BS-21 by deputing requisite number of officers to Sindh.

“Dear Prime Minister, kindly consider the above as the response of the Government of Sindh to the proposal of the Federal Government (to transfer the officials) and direct the Establishment Division to issue necessary notifications The Establishment Division may also please be directed to fill the shortage in BS-1 7 to BS-21 by deputing the requisite number of officers to the Province of Sindh,” the CM concluded.