Interior secretary gets premature retirement.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan has accorded approval to a request by Interior Secretary retired Major Azam Suleman Khan for premature retirement. An official notification to this effect has been issued by the Establishment Division.

Azam Suleman, a grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, was due to retire in February next year, but sought premature retirement, which will be in effect from June 30.

Premature retirement is rare in Civil Service and bureaucrats usually seek it when they develop irreconcilable differences with their bosses.

Informed sources, however, said this was not the case this time. They said that months before his retirement, the interior secretary had taken the decision to seize an opportunity.

According to an official source, Azam Suleman is set to be appointed as the eighth Ombudsman of Punjab in the first week of July for a four-year term. The position fell vacant after Punjab Ombudsman Najam Saeed died of heart attack last week.

Mr Suleman had been promoted to the post of federal secretary in February 2017.

He has served as administrative boss in two important provinces - Punjab and Sindh.

Former caretaker prime minister retired Justice Nasirul Mulk had appointed Mr Suleman as chief secretary of Sindh in June 2018 - a position he held till September 2018. He also served as Punjab chief secretary from November 2019 to April 2020.

He served as interior secretary before his appointment as Punjab chief secretary. He is said to have been removed as...