LAHORE - In what has now appeared as an
unprecedented practice in Punjab’s
civil bureaucracy, the Punjab government on Sunday extended the
leave period of Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal for one more
month as the said officer is not willing to work with the current political dispensation in Punjab.
This is the third extension granted to Kamran Afzal since he proceeded on leave over two months
back owing to a non-congenial relationship with the incumbent Punjab government. According to the
official notification, in continuation
of the departmental orders issued
on 16-10-2022 , 30,-09-2022 and
08-09-2022, the chief secretary has
been granted a 30 days extension in
his leave period starting from November 07 till December 6, 2022.
Meanwhile, in continuation of another departmental orders issued on
similar dates Chairman Planning &
Development Board Punjab Abduallah Sumbal will continue to look after
the routine work of the office of CS
Punjab as caretaker Chief Secretary
Punjab in addition to his own duties
during the leave period of Kamran Ali
Afzal. Following his repeated abortive attempts to pull out of the job,
Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Afzal
proceeded on 14 days leave in the
month of September handing over
charge of the post to chairman P&D.
In the last two and a half months, Kamran Ali Afzal had made several requests to the federal government to
get him transferred from Punjab as
he was not feeling comfortable working with the PTI and PML-Q’s coalition government in Punjab. Kamran
requested his transfer from Punjab at
least three times to get a new responsibility in the federal government.
Also, the chief secretary had personally met with the Prime Minister
in the month of September and made
a request for his transfer. But he was
advised to stay put in his current position until his successor is appointed. Earlier, in a letter to the federal
government, Kamran had excused
himself to continue working as chief
secretary due to his personal reasons.
It was pretty obvious that Kamran Afzal does not feel comfortable
working with the Punjab government; but contrary to what the CS
thinks, Chief Minister Ch Parvez
Elahi had earlier stated that he had
no objection working with the Kamran as he enjoyed a very pleasant working relationship with him.
He had also desired to retain him
as Punjab’s top bureaucrat. But, on
the other hand, Kamran Afzal is visibly reluctant to work with the new
chief executive after losing his say
on matters regarding appointments
and transfers of senior officials. Afzal also has in his mind Chaudhry
Parvez Elahi’s consequential statements against the Chief Secretary and
then IGP on the floor of the Assembly
during the presentation of the provincial budget in June this year.
Meanwhile, post the assassination
attempt on Imran Khan amid Azadi
March on Thursday last week, the
incubment IG Punjab Faisal Shahkar
has also requested the federal government to pull him out of Punjab. IG
Punjab is facing a backlash after the
delay in the registration of FIR of the
attack on ex-premier Imran Khan.
In his written request to the Secretary Establishment Division, Faisal
Shahkar stated that he was unable to
continue his duties as IG Punjab due
to personal reasons. The request also
said that it was impossible for him
to continue on his current assignment, therefore, his services should
be withdrawn from the province and
placed at the disposal of the federal
government. Faisal Shahkar was under immense pressure from the center and Punjab on the registration of
FIR of the attack on Imran Khan. The
PTI which is the coalition partner of
the current Provincial government
has raised concerns over the conduct
of IG Punjab on the issue. Vice president Shah Mehmood while talking to
media representatives on Saturday
said that the conduct of IG Punjab
is non-satisfactory and he is under
pressure from someone that there’s a
delay in registration of the FIR.