Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has ordered that no market, shop or business in the province may be closed because of an official visit, after a row in Jhelum in which intermediate examinations were postponed ahead of her scheduled trip to the district.
The province-wide instructions, issued on Saturday 8 November, tell police and district administrations to keep markets and shops open, avoid sealing residential streets, and make security arrangements discreetly. Officials who fail to follow the orders face strict action.
The directive is the sharpest response yet to a long-running complaint from traders and residents: that VIP movements shut down whole bazaars, block streets and cost shopkeepers a day’s earnings. It also follows the chief minister’s decision a day earlier to remove the Jhelum deputy commissioner after he had intermediate examination papers postponed because of her visit.
What the directive says
Under the new instructions, no market, shop, business or other commercial establishment should be ordered to close or suspend operations because of the chief minister’s visit to any district. The orders have been communicated to regional police officers, district police officers, commissioners and deputy commissioners across Punjab.
Maryam Nawaz has also instructed the authorities not to block or seal residential streets or impose restrictions on residents’ movement under the pretext of security arrangements. Security for official visits is to be arranged discreetly, without disrupting commercial activity or creating unnecessary difficulties for ordinary citizens.
The chief minister announced the instructions in a message on X on 8 November, saying public convenience must remain the priority during official visits. The orders apply to all of her visits across the province, not only to the Jhelum trip that triggered them.
Why it happened: the Jhelum exam row
The directive came a day after the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi postponed the Computer Science papers of the Intermediate Second Annual Examinations 2026 in Jhelum district, moving them from Tuesday 10 November to Monday 30 November.
The board acted on the recommendation of the Jhelum deputy commissioner, Mir Raza Ozgen, who had written to the board chairman citing the chief minister’s expected visit to Jhelum and Pind Dadan Khan on 10 November and the administrative and security arrangements it required. Board spokesman Arslan Cheema said Controller of Examinations Mubashir Saeed issued a notification announcing the revised schedule, covering both the morning and evening groups. The change applied only to Jhelum district; papers in other districts under the Rawalpindi board were to proceed as scheduled.
Maryam Nawaz reacted sharply. She said the postponement was a clear violation of her instructions that official visits must not cause inconvenience to the public, particularly students, and she removed the deputy commissioner from his post with immediate effect. The Punjab government subsequently transferred Ozgen, a BS-19 officer, and directed him to report to the Services and General Administration Department. Asma Ijaz, a BS-19 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, has been posted as the new deputy commissioner of Jhelum.
The chief minister also ordered that the postponed examinations be held on their original date. “Notwithstanding any acts of foolishness or misplaced over-smartness on the part of the district administration, the examinations shall be held strictly in accordance with the original schedule, i.e. Tuesday, 10th November,” she said in a post on X.
What changes for traders and residents
For shopkeepers, the directive addresses a familiar grievance. Traders have repeatedly complained that security arrangements for VIP visits close markets along the route for hours, sometimes for a whole day, with no compensation for lost trade. Residents have faced similar disruption, with streets sealed and movement restricted while a visiting dignitary passes through.
The new orders make the position explicit: commercial activity is not to be suspended and residential streets are not to be blocked for a visit. The warning of strict action against officials who fail to comply gives the instruction teeth, and the removal of the Jhelum deputy commissioner the day before shows the chief minister is prepared to act on it.
Whether the orders hold in practice will be tested at the next high-profile visit. District administrations have long treated market closures and street sealing as the default security response, and changing that habit will require the chief minister’s office to follow through on its warning.
What happens next
The immediate test comes on Tuesday 10 November, when the chief minister is due to visit Jhelum and Pind Dadan Khan. The Intermediate Computer Science papers in Jhelum will now be held on that day as originally scheduled, with the new deputy commissioner in charge of arrangements.
The Punjab government has not said whether any official has been tasked with monitoring compliance with the new instructions during the visit. For students in Jhelum, the practical outcome is already clear: their examination will go ahead on 10 November. For traders across Punjab, the directive is a promise that will be judged the next time a VIP convoy rolls through their bazaar.
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