The federal government on Sunday appointed Dr Muhammad Fakhr Alam Irfan as the new chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the most significant administrative appointment since President Asif Ali Zardari proclaimed an emergency in the province. In a separate notification, the government placed the services of senior bureaucrat Muhammad Yahya Akhunzada at the disposal of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, signalling that Islamabad intends to run the province’s administration through its own chosen officers.
The two appointments were notified on October 11, 2026, the same day the emergency proclamation moved the province’s administration under federal control. They remove the top layer of the PTI-led province’s civil administration and replace it with federal officers trusted by the current government in Islamabad.
Dr Fakhr Alam Irfan takes charge as chief secretary
Dr Muhammad Fakhr Alam Irfan is a Grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, the senior-most tier of the country’s civil service. According to the official notification issued on Sunday, his appointment takes effect immediately and will remain in force until further orders.
Before his new posting, Dr Irfan was serving as secretary of the Power Division under the federal Ministry of Energy, where he handled administrative matters related to the power sector. He belongs to Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The notification also removed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah from the post and directed him to report to the Establishment Division immediately. The chief secretary is the administrative head of the province, coordinating all provincial departments and overseeing the implementation of government policies.
Yahya Akhunzada assigned to KP administration
Muhammad Yahya Akhunzada, a Grade-20 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, has had his services placed at the disposal of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government under Section 10 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973. The arrangement will remain in effect until further orders, according to the notification.
Before this assignment, Akhunzada was serving as an additional secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. His career includes several senior postings in the province: he has served as additional political agent for South Waziristan and North Waziristan, as secretary for health, information and education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and as commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan.
Akhunzada belongs to Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials say his experience in both the tribal districts and provincial departments makes him familiar with the province’s administrative structure, which the federal government will now run directly.
Appointments follow the emergency proclamation
The bureaucratic reshuffle comes hours after President Zardari’s emergency proclamation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution, which effectively sidelined the PTI-led provincial government. Under the proclamation, the chief minister, provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants have ceased to hold office, while the province’s administrative affairs are being overseen by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi.
The federal government’s stated reason for the emergency is the deteriorating law and order situation and the provincial government’s detachment from the fight against terrorism. The decision followed the federal cabinet’s deliberations on emergency options for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier on Sunday, when the cabinet reviewed the security situation and took note of what it called the provincial government’s deliberate disengagement from counterterrorism.
What the new administration inherits
The new chief secretary takes charge of a province facing multiple pressures at once. The PTI has been holding a long march through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa demanding the release of its jailed founder Imran Khan, while militant violence has been rising in the western districts. Security forces recently foiled an infiltration attempt in Kurram in which 12 militants were killed, and mobile services were suspended in Peshawar on Sunday as authorities braced for unrest.
The chief secretary’s office will also have to manage the province’s law enforcement agencies, which the federal government has accused of being diverted from counterterrorism duties. The Establishment Division is expected to issue further notifications as the new administrative setup takes shape, and officials have said additional transfers and postings in the civil service are likely in the coming days.
PTI condemns the takeover
The PTI has rejected the emergency as unconstitutional. Party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan called the move a grave political mistake, while the party says its long march will continue. The federal government, however, says the emergency was unavoidable after its attempts to engage the provincial administration failed.
With the new chief secretary and key officers now in place, the federal government’s takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s administration has entered its operational phase. Whether the emergency restores stability or deepens the political confrontation will shape the province’s trajectory in the weeks ahead. Read more in PakMirror’s latest Pakistan politics coverage.
