In an unprecedented development, the professional body representing provincial Pakistani Public Servants has told the Secretary of the Central Establishment Division, Afzal Latif (pictured) that it is considering initiating legal action against him.
In a statement, the All-Pakistan Provincial Civil Service Association (APPCSA) said Mr Latif and his “collaborators” were “shamelessly subverting the Constitution”.
The statement follows a letter written by Mr Latif to the Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Public Services ordering them to transfer control of all their Pakistan Administrative Service and Police Service of Pakistan officers to the Central administration.
In a scathing letter of protest, APPCSA Coordinator, Farhat Ullah Marwat claimed Mr Latif’s office had become “an organised mafia headquarters to safeguard the rights of their clan under any circumstances”.
“The patience of the provincial Civil Servants, who believe in the sanctity and paramountcy of the Constitution, is becoming thin with every violation of the Constitution perpetrated by your office and will not leave any stone unturned to bring perpetrators to justice and break this mafia, which is every other day making mockery of the Constitution,” Mr Marwat said.
He said that if the Constitutional violation did not stop “we would be forced to take every possible step against you and your collaborators for shamelessly subverting the Constitution and not letting Pakistan get out of its colonial past and tread on roads of administrative Federalism”.
Mr Marwat said Mr Latif’ was seeking to usurp the authority and autonomy bestowed upon the Provinces by the Constitution of Pakistan and if left unchecked would become a threat to the unity of Pakistan.
A source within Mr Latif’s office termed the APPCSA letter as “malicious”.
Islamabad, 1 September 2021
