Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has ordered the immediate suspension of dozens of Civil Defence officers following reports of widespread administrative malpractice. The crackdown, launched late Tuesday, targets officials accused of irregularities in recruitment, procurement, and daily operations.
The Chief Minister’s office confirmed the suspensions after a preliminary audit revealed systemic corruption within the department. Sources within the provincial government suggest that the inquiry focused on ghost employees and the misappropriation of funds allocated for emergency training programs.
For residents, the Civil Defence department is meant to be a first line of response during urban flooding or security threats. Instead, the audit found a shell of an organization, with many listed personnel failing to show up for duty while drawing full salaries.
“We aren’t just looking at individual negligence,” an official familiar with the investigation said. “We’re dismantling a network that treated public safety resources as personal piggy banks.”
The provincial government has now appointed an oversight committee to audit the department’s financial records dating back to 2022. This committee has been given a 15-day deadline to submit a comprehensive report on the extent of the financial leakages.
While the suspensions are being framed as a “zero-tolerance” policy, the move puts significant pressure on the remaining staff to maintain operations. Critics of the administration argue that mass suspensions, while necessary, could cripple the department’s ability to respond to emergencies if replacements aren’t vetted and deployed immediately.
The Chief Minister has directed the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to register criminal cases against those found directly involved in embezzlement. As the investigation widens, the provincial government expects more arrests to follow in the coming days.
For now, the department remains under a cloud of scrutiny, with the government signaling that no official — regardless of rank — will be shielded from the ongoing accountability drive.
