MUZAFFARABAD: Amid rising speculations of a possible political change in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the federal government has replaced the region`s chief secretary, it emerged on Thursday.

According to a notification issued by the Establishment Division late on Wednesday, retired Flt-Lt Khushal Khan, a BS-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), currently serving as Additional Secretary of the Power Division, was transferred and his services were placed at the disposal of the AJK government for further posting as Chief Secretary under Clause viii of the Karachi Agreement, 1949.

Mr Khan replaced Dawood Mohammad Bareach, a BS-21 officer of PAS, who was directed to report to the Establishment Division. Mr Bareach was appointed as AJK`s Chief Secretary in August last year.

Mr Khan would assume charge after endorsement of the Establishment Division`s notification by the AJK government`s Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) with the approval of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq.

Clause viii of the Karachi Agreement, signed in 1949 by then AJK President Sardar Ibrahim Khan, Muslim Conference leader Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, and federal minister without portfolio Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani, states that the `services of the officers loaned to the AJK government would informally be placed at the disposal of the AJK government, which would formally appoint them to office by notification in AJK`s gazette.

Before 2014, officers posted by the federal government to at least five key positions in AJK, commonly referred to as `lent officers,` would assume charge upon the issuance of a notification by the Establishment Division.

However, following a disagreement between the then PML-N government in Islamabad and the PPP government in Muzaffarabad, both sides mutually agreed that the transfers and postings of lent officers in AJK would take effect only after the S&GAD notified them with approval from the AJK prime minister.