Who will be new KP chief secretary? three names sent to PM Office

PESHAWAR: A debate has been going on in the bureaucracy and government circles of Islamabad and Peshawar regarding the appointment of the new chief secretary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Amidst speculation and discussion, the question remains unresolved: Who will assume the role of the provincial chief secretary?

According to sources, after a meeting between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the PM Office on Wednesday, a panel of three officers’ names has been sent to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for the appointment of the new provincial chief secretary.

The sources said that the three officers on the panel sent to the PM Secretariat are Grade 21 PAS officers Shahab Ali Shah, Usman Akhtar Bajwa and Ali Tahir.

Well-informed sources in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government told HUM News English that the provincial government and Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur are interested in appointing Shahab Ali Shah as the new chief secretary, and this was also expressed by the KP chief minister in his meeting with the prime minister.

According to sources, Shahab Ali Shah, as the Additional Chief Secretary of Planning and Development, initiated several mega projects in the province, and this is why the new provincial government is interested in appointing him as the chief secretary.

Sources in the KP Chief Minister’s Secretariat told HUM News English that it will take some time to replace the current KP Chief Secretary, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, with a new chief secretary.

The current KP chief secretary was appointed by the federal government on March 22, 2023, replacing Imdad Bosal, who remained the chief secretary only for two months.

According to the sources, after the formation of the new government by Gandapur, consultations have begun to replace the current chief secretary and the provincial police inspector-general.

On March 12, the KP Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary sent a summary to the federal government to replace Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry with Shahab Ali Shah as the new chief secretary.

The Establishment Division objected to this and instructed the provincial government to send a panel of three names.