Daily Times

KARACHI: Minister for Education and Literacy and the powerful secretary of the department are reportedly at loggerheads over administrative control of the department.

Dr Fazalullah Pechuho is brother-in-law of former President Asif Zardari has been holding the post of Secretary for the past few years. He never allowed any education minister to dictate him; instead he is the one who is calling the shots.

This is happening at the time when Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has clearly instructed his cabinet members that they (ministers) can use powers of transfers/postings to run the affairs smoothly.

However, the education department has still to came under the full control of any minister and this is the reason why former education ministers like Nisar Khuhro, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, and Pir Mazharul Haq could not perform well.

“The allocation of budgetary amount, which is billions of rupees, and hundreds of job vacancies are the main reasons behind the clash of the PPP ministers with the bureaucrat in the department,” said a source.

After securing majority votes in the general elections on May 11, 2013, the PPP Sindh leadership installed its leader Nisar Ahmed Khuhro as senior education minister.

And, interestingly, the department was headed by secretary education Dr Fazalullah Pechuho, who had already launched a number of inquiries against PPP’s former education minister Pir Mazharul Haq.

Sources added that Secretary Dr Fazalullah Pechuho has always turned down ministers’ orders. In the recent past, Nisar Khuhro had also approached the CM during the non-availability of the secretary and threatened to leave the portfolio if the secretary and his team were not removed.

This same situation is with the newly installed education minister Jam Mahtab Dahar as he is unable to use his powers in running the department’s affairs. “Jam Mahtab has flown to Dubai to register a protest before the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari against the secretary education,” added the source.

Daily Times repeatedly tried to contact Jam Mahtab Dahar and Secretary Education Dr Fazalullah Pechuho but they did not respond.