Muhammad Azam Khan is a

Grade 22 Grade 22 (also referred to as BPS-Apex) is the highest attainable rank for a Civil Servant in Pakistan. Grade 22 is equal to a 4-star rank of the Pakistan Armed Forces. With over five hundred thousand civil servants and bureaucrats in Pakistan, on ...

officer of the

Pakistan Administrative Service The Pakistan Administrative Service, or PAS ( ur, ) (previously known as the District Management Group or DMG before 1 June 2012) is an elite cadre of the Civil Services of Pakistan. The Pakistan Administrative Service over the years has emerg ...

. He has previously served as

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan (also referred to as PSPM or PM's Chief of Staff) is the administrative head and highest-ranking official of the Prime Minister's Office. The position holder is usually an officer belongi ...

in Imran Khan's government. Prior to his stint in the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

, he served as

Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Urdu: ), also referred to as CS KP, is the bureaucratic chief and highest-ranking official of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The appointment of the Chief Secretary is made directly by the Prime Minist ...

. He was nominated as the Executive Director World Bank in February, 2022 ,however his notification was cancelled by the PML-N federal government in August,2022.

Early life and education

He was born in

Mardan Mardān (Pashto and ; Urdu ; Pashto: ) is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). It is a fast-growing ...

, Pakistan. He received his education from

Army Burn Hall College Army Burn Hall College (; commonly referred to as Burn Hall and abbreviated as ABHC) is a highly selective, Pakistan Army-administered day and boarding school and college in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was founded in 1943 by members of Saint ...

, and master's degree from

Quaid-e-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

with

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. He was initially posted as

District Management Group The Pakistan Administrative Service, or PAS ( ur, ) (previously known as the District Management Group or DMG before 1 June 2012) is an elite cadre of the Civil Services of Pakistan. The Pakistan Administrative Service over the years has emerg ...

(DMG) after he secured first rank in

Central Superior Services The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority, and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...

in 1991.

Career

He belongs to the 1990 batch of

. He served at various positions throughout his career such as assistant commissioner for

Chunian Chunian ( ur, ), is a historic city and the capital of Chunian Tehsil of Punjab, Pakistan. It is located at 30° 58' N 73° 51' E and at an elevation of 177 metres (583 feet), and lies about 70 km south of Lahore the Punjab capital. I ...

and

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

, and was later appointed as deputy commissioner for

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

1999 Pakistani coup d'état The 1999 military takeover in Pakistan was a bloodless ''coup d'état'' initiated by the military staff at the Joint Staff HQ working under Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Pervez Musharraf. The instigators seized con ...

and additional chief secretary for

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

. He was also appointed as secretary for sports, tourism, and youth affairs, and home, in addition to secretary for tribal affairs. In 2018, he was appointed as principal secretary to the prime minister's office with grade 21, although Pakistan's federal bureaucracy position requires

grade 22 Grade 22 (also referred to as BPS-Apex) is the highest attainable rank for a Civil Servant in Pakistan. Grade 22 is equal to a 4-star rank of the Pakistan Armed Forces. With over five hundred thousand civil servants and bureaucrats in Pakistan, on ...

. Since a principal secretary to the prime minister of Pakistan is usually appointed from one of the administrative officers with grade 22, Azam Khan was appointed by Imran Khan with grade 21. He is often criticised by civil servants, citing his inadequate experience in federal government office. In 2019, he allegedly added his own name in grade 22 promotion list prepared or proposed by the High Powered Selection Board (HPSB) headed by prime minister with other board members, including principal secretary Azam Khan himself. In October 2018, the

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

(NAB) charged him for his alleged role in signing a 33-year lease deal, comprising 275 kanals in

Malam Jabba Malam Jabba (also Maalam Jabba, Urdu: مالم جبہ) is a Hill Station and ski resort in the Hindu Kush mountain range nearly 40 km from Saidu Sharif in Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is 314 km from Islamabad ...

. However, the anti-corruption agency, NAB dropped the charges against him and other PTI officials, including

Mahmood Khan Mahmood Khan (Urdu, Pashto: ; born 30 October 1972) is a Pakistani politician and a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who is currently serving as the 27th Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in office since 17 August 2018. He has bee ...

and

Pervez Khattak Pervez Khan Khattak ( ur, ; ps, پروېز خان خټک; born 1 January 1950) is a Pakistani politician and a member of PTI who served as the Defence Minister of Pakistan from 20 August 2018 until the dissolution of National Assembly on 3 ...

in 2021 after a special committee formed by the

Peshawar High Court The Peshawar High Court ( ur, ) is the highest judicial institution of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It is located in the provincial capital Peshawar. The Parliament passed a bill extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Peshawar High ...

recommended the agency to close the case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Azam Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Mardan District Quaid-i-Azam University alumni Pakistani civil servants Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Chief Secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa