The annual elections of the Provincial Management Service (PMS) Officers’ Association will be held on February 24.
Rai Manzoor Nasir, twice elected unopposed president of the association, is likely to face tough competition from Mubashir Shah who is running for president.
Rai Nasir has fielded Abdul Qayyum, an additional secretary in Chief Minister’s Secretariat, as his candidate for general secretary and Naveed Deerat for vice president.
Shah has fielded Irfan Khalid for general secretary and Raiz Ahmed Shad for vice president.
Waheed Akhtar, who earlier filed his nomination papers for president has withdrawn in favour of Shah.
Shah’s candidature appears to have split mid-career officers from the younger ones. The former are favouring a change while the latter still support Nasir.
Several mid-career officers while talking to The Express Tribune criticised the outgoing leaders, saying they had unnecessarily offended the political as well as the bureaucratic elite of the province. A change of faces would help, they said.
A group of officers from the secretariat services complained that during discussions over a rational promotion ratio formula among the PSS and PCS officers, Rai Nasir had made derogatory remarks against them.
Most of the younger officers, all speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the outgoing body had done a remarkable job of getting PMS Officers their rights. They said they were putting their strength behind Rai Nasir to lead the association for another year.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2013.