ISLAMABAD – Apart from removing Fawad Hasan Fawad and appointing MirzaSuhail in his place, the PM Nasir ul Mulk also ordered appointment ofInter-Provincial Coordination Secretary Abu Ahmad Akif as Cabinet Divisionsecretary in place of Mirza.
All the three officers – Amir, Akif and Fawad – belong to PakistanAdministrative Service (PAS), formerly known as District Management Group(DMG), and are working in basic pay scale (BPS) 22.
Aamir was promoted to BPS-22 in October 2014 when Nawaz Sharif was theprime minister. Akif was promoted to BPS-22 also in Sharif’s tenure inFebruary 2016 whereas Fawad was promoted to BPS-22 in December 2017 whenShahid Khaqan Abbasi was the premier.
Some officials in the Establishment Division claimed that Fawad had himselfmoved a request to be transferred from the position of PM’s secretarybefore the end the PML-N government’s tenure. However, PM Abbasi had leftit for the caretaker PM to make a decision.
Sources said further reshuffle in top ranks of bureaucracy is also expected.
In the past, several attempts were said to be made by different lobbies inbureaucracy to have Fawad removed from his post due to controversiesattached to his stint as secretary to PM but these moves failed as Fawadwas known as the ‘most reliable aide’ of Sharif.
Recently, Fawad had issued a notification which brought embarrassment tothe federal government. He had notified honorarium equivalent tothree-month basic pay for ‘all federal government employees’, on behalf ofPM Abbasi.
However, the Finance Ministry declared this decision as impracticable andthe last cabinet meeting held under Abbasi on Thursday reversed it. Thecabinet approved grant of honorarium only to the employees of ministriesand departments involved in the preparation of federal budget 2018.
Fawad is also facing probe launched by the National Accountability Bureau(NAB) in connection with his alleged role in Ashiana Housing Scheme scam, aproject of former Punjab government. Some reports suggested that he wasscheduled to appear before NAB on Friday.