Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday threatened bureaucracy in Punjab province of severe repercussion over taking action against his party men.
Taking to Twitter, Ahsan Iqbal said that they have set up a monitoring cell at the Central Secretariat of the PML-N which would collect data on officials acting against the party.
#PMLN مرکزی سیکریٹریٹ ، 180 H، ماڈل ٹاؤن، لاہور میں حکومت پنجاب کی طرف سے کی جانے والی انتقامی کاروائیوں کی مانیٹرنگ کا سیل قائم کر دیا گیا ہے-جو سرکاری افسران اپنی پیشہ وارانہ ڈیوٹی سے بڑھ کر #PTI حکومت کے ورکر بنے ہوئے ہیں ان کے کوائف اور کاروائیوں کی تفصیل مع ثبوت بھیجی جائیں-
— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) April 6, 2021
“We will be receiving details of the officials who are becoming the workers of the government party and taking actions against the PML-N workers,” he said while urging people to send the evidence to the monitoring cell.
Responding to the warning issued to the Punjab bureaucracy, SAPM on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill demanded of the Punjab chief secretary to take notice of the warning.
چیف سیکرٹری پنجاب کو اس پر ایکشن لینا چاہئیے اور اسے کارے سرکار میں مداخلت اور سرکاری ملازمین کے خلاف دھمکی سمجھنا چاہئیے۔ اس پر فوری قانونی کاروائی کر کے پنجاب میں ایک اور الطاف حسین گروپ کی تشکیل کو فوری روکنا چاہئیے۔ https://t.co/hX1JOexulr
— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) April 6, 2021
“This should be considered as an interference in the government affairs and a threat to the employees,” he said while demanding the chief secretary to proceed against the PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal under these charges.
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PML-N’s relationship with bureaucracy is not new. Experts and analysts believe that the party knows how to manage local bureaucracy to run a government. Notably, bureaucrats from Punjab had a stranglehold on the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in PML-N’s tenure and the situation. Only a handful of the bureaucrats served in the Federal Capital who belonged to Sindh. Bureaucrats hailing from Punjab had kept almost all the BPA-20 or above posts.
In 2013, despite the major reshuffle in Punjab’s bureaucracy, six influential secretaries of the PML-N led Punjab government kept their role in the controversial 2013 polls.