Shahbaz’s blue-eyed officers get key posts
LAHORE: The massive bureaucratic reshuffle in Punjab, ordered directly by Prime Minister Imran Khan, brings back Shahbaz Sharif team of go-getters, said a report.
All key positions in the new setup have been given to Shahbaz’s blue-eyed officers, who were responsible for development and governance during his ten-year rule in Punjab.
Most of these officers were responsible for key projects, which are identified by Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) and Shahbaz like Orange Train, Multan Metro, underpasses and mega projects of Lahore, Nandipur power project and others. More than a dozen of officers, now brought back to deliver for the Usman Buzdar government, were directly working with Shahbaz in the chief minister secretariat.
The new bureaucratic team is led by Major (retd) Azam Suleman — the new Chief Secretary who has been Secretary of the Communication & Works (C&W), the most lucrative deaprtment in the province for five years under Shahbaz.
Shahbaz took so much interest in development that he never appointed a C&W minister and directly interacted with Secretary Suleman, who was instrumental in execution of mega projects in Punjab and Lahore.
Shahbaz had such a great liking for Suleman and even after his promotion to grade 22 he was retained as the additional chief secretary, Home, in Punjab for five years — longest tenure ever.
Officers like Nabeel Awan, Abdullah Sumbal, Nadeem Mahboob, Javed Qazi, Sajid Dahl had served in Shahbaz’s immediate team as secretary for development, implementation and coordination. Some were responsible for governance and development in Punjab. All have been given key positions in the recent reshuffle.
Nabeel Awan posted as Secretary, Health and also Livestock, Asad Sumbal as Secretary, Finance, Nadeem Mahboob as Secretary,
Housing, to implement the prime minister’s housing vision, Javed Qazi as Secretary local government department, the most important department politically and administratively.
Similarly a number of former PSOS (personal staff officers), who Shahbaz had trained as livewire Young Turks, have been given important field assignments.