The federal government has installed a new administrative team in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, appointing Dr Muhammad Fakhr Alam Irfan as the province’s chief secretary after emergency rule was imposed.
According to an official notification, Dr Irfan, a Grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, will take charge with immediate effect and remain in the post until further orders. He previously served as secretary of the Power Division in the federal Ministry of Energy and hails from Mardan.
In a separate notification, the government placed Muhammad Yahya Akhunzada, a Grade-20 PAS officer, at the disposal of the K-P government, also with immediate effect. Akhunzada was serving as an additional secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. He hails from Charsadda and has previously served as additional political agent for North and South Waziristan, as provincial secretary for health, information and education, and as commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan.
ARY News reported that the outgoing chief secretary, Shahab Ali Shah, was removed from the post and directed to report to the Establishment Division immediately.
The bureaucratic reshuffle follows President Asif Ali Zardari’s approval of emergency and governor’s rule in the province under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution, on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Under the proclamation, the chief minister, provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants and the advocate general cease to hold office immediately, with the governor empowered to assume the province’s executive authority.
