Fact-check: Is the ECP only removing officials in Sindh and not Punjab?

Politician Khursheed Ahmed Shah has accused the Election Commission of Pakistan of only transferring and removing government officials from the Sindh province, ahead of the national polls, while making no such changes in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The claim is incorrect.

Claim

“I have a complaint with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP),” Khursheed A. Shah, a senior politician belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party said during an interview to Dawn TV, on September 22, “Only officers in Sindh are being transferred but none from Punjab or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Maybe they removed one or two [officers in those provinces]. But what about the main officials?”

Shah continued that three inspector generals police and two chief secretaries have been removed by the Commission in Sindh, since after the provincial assembly was dissolved and a caretaker government took over on August 17 to prepare for the general election.

Fact

The claim is false. Several government officials have been transferred with the approval of the Election Commission of Pakistan in Punjab this year to date.

As per a list provided to Geo Fact Check by Zaid Bin Maqsood, the secretary of the services and general administration department (S&GAD) in Punjab, which is tasked with the transfer, posting and promotion of public officials, a total of 44 Basic Pay Scales (BPS) 20 and 21 officials have been transferred in the province between January 30 and October 17 in the province.

The document also mentions the date on which the Commission approved the transfer of the officials, all of whom are secretaries of government departments.

Below is a list of the officers transferred or posted out in Punjab from January to October.

Separately, in a letter sent to all the provinces on March 10 and again on September 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) banned caretaker governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and later Sindh and Balochistan as well as all other government departments, from transferring or removing secretaries, head of departments, BSP-20 officers, commissioners, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and senior police officials without the approval of the ECP.

But it added that transfers of officers below the rank of BSP-19 can be dealt with by the caretaker governments or department heads on their own, without seeking consent from the electoral body.

With additional reporting by Fayyaz Hussain.

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