Muhammad Abdullah Sumbal appointed new Punjab chief secretary

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the federal government on Wednesday appointed Muhammad Abdullah Sumbal as new Punjab chief secretary in place of Kamran Ali Afzal, ARY News reported.

A notification to this effect has been issued by the Establishment Division.

In another development, Punjab IGP Faisal Shahkar is learnt to have relinquished the charge and submitted a report to the provincial secretary services, Punjab.

A crisis emerged in Punjab a few months ago when Kamran Afzal refused to work and demanded that he be transferred to some other post.

Later, he applied for leave a couple of times during which Sumbal was given an additional charge.

Afzal’s appointment was approved in September 2021 when PTI’s Usman Buzdar was in charge. He was the fifth head of the Punjab’s bureaucracy during the three years of the previous PTI-led government.