Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Sunday ordered the immediate removal of Jhelum Deputy Commissioner Mir Reza Ozgen after he requested the relocation of an intermediate examination centre ahead of her scheduled visit to the district.
Announcing the decision on X, the chief minister expressed displeasure over the official’s request, saying it violated her standing instructions that official visits must not disrupt public activities or cause inconvenience to citizens.
Maryam said she had issued “explicit instructions that no inconvenience or disruption whatsoever should be caused to the public during my visits to the districts”, but acknowledged that “such an incident has nevertheless occurred”.
“This is a clear disregard for my directions,” she stated, announcing that the deputy commissioner had been “REMOVED FROM THE POST WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT”.
The chief minister also shared a copy of a letter dated November 6, sent by the Jhelum deputy commissioner’s office to the chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Rawalpindi.
The letter concerned the Computer Science examinations for both groups of the Intermediate Second Annual Examination 2026, scheduled for November 10 at Government Comprehensive School, Jhelum.
In his correspondence, the deputy commissioner requested that the examinations be relocated to another appropriate centre because of anticipated traffic congestion associated with the chief minister’s visit.
The letter explained that the proposed change was being sought “in view of the VVIP visit and the anticipated traffic congestion”, which “may cause inconvenience to the students and their parents”.
Rather than postponing the examination across the district, the official suggested that the Computer Science paper “may kindly be shifted to another suitable examination centre instead of postponing the examination throughout the district”.
However, the chief minister viewed the request itself as inconsistent with her directions to district administrations to ensure that her visits do not interfere with routine public activities.
The immediate removal of the deputy commissioner followed her public criticism of the proposed examination arrangements.