KP bureaucrats threaten strike over 'misuse' of powers by minister.

PESHAWAR -- Bureaucrats threatened a pen-down strike across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday accusing information minister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel of overstepping his powers by trying to occupy the office of additional secretary of the department Arshad Khan.

The minister claimed that he visited the secretary's office and wanted to sit on his chair but the latter didn't allow that prompting him to step out and go to the office of the director-general (public relations).

'I held the same chair during an earlier visit to the office,' he told Dawn.

Mr Kakakhel alleged that the province's bureaucracy had a tilt to the former ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Minister Kakakhel claims secy denying him record of official cars

Official sources claimed that the DG was away but still, the minister occupied his chair.

The minister said he had sought details of official vehicles used by officers of his department, but the records weren't shared.

'I want to see how many official vehicles are used by the families of these bureaucrats, but the secretary is reluctant to respond to my repeated queries,' he said.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Management Services resented the minister's 'unbecoming' conduct towards bureaucracy and asked the chief minister to act against him to prevent a pen-down strike by government officials.

In a letter to Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, the association of the provincial management services said the information minister had overstepped his powers.

'The information minister transgressed his jurisdiction by insisting that he would occupy the chair of the secretary. He even threatened the secretary with a news conference against him,' read the letter.

The PAS said the minister's conduct was extremely unprofessional and that many members of the government had sought official vehicles used by the secretaries for themselves in violation of rules and regulations.

'Some departments are being pressured to take policy decisions, which is the mandate of the elected government only,' it said in the letter.

The association said the Constitution and Elections Act 2017 declared that the mandate of caretakers was just to hold free and fair elections and not to take policy decisions.

It warned that if the chief minister didn't address the issue immediately, it could announce a pen-down strike across the...