By Raza Ruman
Islamabad, April 10 (www.pakdestiny.com) Geo ‘bacha’ anchor Muneeb Farooq is facing a serious charge of transfers and postings of the officials by using his relation with caretaket chief minister Najam Sethi, who was also his boss in “Aapas ki baat” programme.
Muneeb is not only taking his share in transferrs and postings but also remains present in all important meetings at the chief minister secretariat chaired by Najam Sethi.
The action of the first lady of Punjab – Muneeb – has raised many eye brows in the provincial bureaucracy.
“Some senior officers have written to Prime Minister Khoso about Muneeb’s alleged role in transfers and posting and asked him to direct Sethi to check his ‘bacha’s acts and does not oblige him,” a source told Pak Destiny.
Meanwhile, The Nation’s writer Mubashir Hasan has also written about Muneeb’s controversial role.
Hasan writes”Believe it or not, but it is true that Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi is ‘sharing’ some of his powers with his buddy Muneeb Farooq with whom he used to host a talk show, “Aapas ki Baat’ before becoming the chief minister.
“Who says Aapas ki baat’ has gone off air. You can still watch the talk how, but at the chief minister secretariat”, said an official of the CM secretariat in a lighter vein while confirming the frequent presence of Mr Muneeb at 8-Club Road.
Another source confided to TheNation that Muneeb is calling the shots in matters of postings and transfers of officers. According to him, he has in his possession a long list of bureaucrats provided to him by the PPP and PML-Q leaders. There are ‘cross marks’ against the names of officers who served the former Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and hence, they are not required to be given any important posting. Certain names, however, have ‘tick marks’ before them which means they can be considered for new postings.
On the condition of anonymity, an official informed this scribe that Muneeb also sits in the meetings chaired by Najam Sethi, especially those held to take important decisions on the reshuffle in bureaucracy.
“When the chief secretary along with his team presents a list of officers for new postings, Muneeb compares it with his own and strikes out the names from the official list which have been marked red. He also records the proceedings for future reference”, said the official sharing more details of the meetings.
Immediately after taking oath of his office, Najam had declared that from now onwards he had no friends or relatives. The reason for saying so was that he would act in an impartial manner and did not extent any favour to his friends and relatives. —
