Pakistan: Dominance in PM office: Punjab bureaucrats rule the roost

Bureaucrats from Punjab appear to have a stranglehold on the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, enjoying an overall representation of 72 per cent in the service of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In stark contrast, bureaucrats from Sindh form only 3 per cent of those serving in the federal capital. As many as 489 of 675 employees, working in both internal and external wings of PM office belong to Punjab, the Prime Minister Secretariat informed the Senate in a written reply. Senator Karim Ahmed Khwaja of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) sought details of employees currently working in the PM’s Secretariat. Over 330 employees, who hold a Punjab domicile, are working in internal wing whereas 159 civil servants are working in the external wing of PM office. Only 21 employees are from both urban and rural areas of Sindh, where the majority of them are of the lower cadre. Senator Khwaja revealed that dozens of lower-grade employees that were laid off belonged to Sindh since PM Nawaz assumed charge of the office. “It’s unfair that appointments of officers holding Sindh domiciles are ignored in the PM office,” he observed. The written reply submitted to the upper house of parliament last week revealed that more than 16 per cent of the total employees (114 officers) hold a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa domicile. Some 19 employees who hold Balochistan’s domicile are currently working in the PM office in Islamabad. More than 46 employees are from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) whereas six employees belong to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). The breakdown showed that almost all top posts of BPS-20 or above were filled from Punjab. Only one BPS-20 officer holds a Sindh domicile and two officials of BPS-18 hold Balochistan domicile while a clerk is the highest ranking employee from Fata. Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Mohiuddin Wani told The Express Tribune that currently 248 employees are working in the PM’s office. Strongly dispelling the impression that bureaucrats of Punjab domicile prevailed over the PM office, Wani said the PM’s staff has been slashed keeping in view the austerity measures Premier Nawaz asked for, adding that more than 468 employees were working in PM internal office in the previous regime. He justified the provincial breakdown of employees at the PM office with the fact that top bureaucrats have representation from all provinces. PM Press Secretary and Additional Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad holds the domicile of AJK, Additional Secretary Arshad Munir belongs to K-P, PM Principal Secretary Javed Aslam hails from Punjab while Saleh Farooqi holds the domicile of Sindh. In July, Premier Nawaz also directed the authorities to reduce staff of the PM office soon after assuming the office so that administrative expenditures could be curtailed.