QUETTA: A large-scale reshuffle, involving as high-ranking burea­ucrats as commissioners, DIGs and secretaries, was carried out by the interim government of Balochis­tan on Saturday on the advice of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

According to an official notification issued by the Ser­vices and General Adm­inistration Depart­ment (S&GAD), the commissioners of all the eight administrative divisions of Balochistan were transferred.

Muhammed Hamza Sha­fqaat, a Pakistan Adm­inistrative Service (PAS) officer of Grade-20, who was serving as the information secretary, has been posted as the commissioner of Quetta division.

He replaced Sohailur Rehman, who will be reporting to the S&GAD.

Bashir Ahmed Bazai, a Grade-20 officer of the Balochistan Civil Service (BCS), will take over as the Kalat division commissioner in place of Dawood Khan Khilji, who will report to the S&GAD.

Balach Aziz, a Grade-20 BCS officer, has been app­ointed commissioner of the Loralai division, rep­lacing Muhammad Gul.

Saeed Ahmed Umrani, a BCS officer in Grade-20, serving as the Zhob division commissioner, will take up a similar post in Makran, in place of Syed Faisal Ahmed, who has been asked to report to the department.

Javed Anwar Shahwani, who was awaiting posting, will be the new Zhob division commissioner.

The Rakhshan division will now be headed by Shah Irfan Ahmed Gharsheen, a BCS officer in Grade-20, in place of Tariqur Rehman.

Senior bureaucrat Shahid Saleem Qureshi, who was serving as the Sibi division commissioner, has been asked to report to the services department.

Bashir Ahmed Bangulzai, a BCS Grade-20 officer, will leave the charge of Nasirabad division commissioner. He has been replaced by Tariq Qamar Baloch, the secretary of Labour and Manpower department.

A separate notification, issued by the Balochistan inspector general of police, also reshuffled the police officers.

Aitezaz Ahmed Goraya, who was appointed as the Quetta DIG in August, has been sent to his previous assignment as the DIG of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Balochistan. Abdul Hayee Baloch, serving as the Nasirabad range DIG, has been posted to the position.

Pervez Khan Umrani, working as the Khuzdar range DIG, has been asked to report to the Central Police Office in Quetta. Munir Ahmed Sheikh has been sent from Naseerabad to take up the vacant post.

Sahabzada Bilal Omer, the Telecommunication DIG, will leave his post at the CPO to take charge as the Nasirabad range DIG.

The police chief of Zhob range, Qamaruz Zaman has been appointed as Highways & Patrolling DIG in Nasirabad.

Muhammad Maroof Masood Safdar, who was awaiting posting, will take over as the Zhob range head.

Nazir Ahmed Kurd, the Rakhshan DIG, will now head the Loralai range, in place of Muhammad Saleem Lehri who was appointed as the Telecommunication DIG.

The vacant slot will be taken up by Wazir Khan Nasar, who was awaiting posting.

The notification also posted Faryal Fareed as the Jaffarabad district SSP, making it the first incident in the province where spouses have been appointed as district police officers in two districts.

The DCs of all 36 districts have also been replaced.

Ayesha Zehri, the only female DC in the province, serving in Nasirabad will report to the S&GAD.

SSP Fareed’s husband, Muhammad Sami Malik will take over as SSP in the neighbouring Nasirabad district.

According to official sources, the provincial government has sent the list of new postings as divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and police officers to the provincial ECP.

Punjab cancels postings notification

Even though the ECP okayed transfers and postings in Balochistan, it rebuked the Punjab government over a similar move to reshuffle assistant commissioners.

After the commission’s reaction, a notification, issued late on late on Friday to change 31 ACs serving in tehsils across the province, was cancelled by the additional chief secretary on Saturday.

According to sources, the volte face came after the ECP conveyed to the provincial government that the work on delimitation of constituencies had started and now no official could be transferred and posted.

Separately, the ECP has also written to Establishment Division Secretary Inamullah Khan to immediately recall all federal government officers — between BS-17 and BS-22 — who have served in provinces for three years or more.

The letter exempted the officers belonging to the PAS and Police Service of Pakistan.

Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2023