Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has removed the deputy commissioner of Jhelum from his post after intermediate examinations in the district were postponed because of her scheduled visit. The decision, announced on Sunday 8 November, is the sharpest signal yet that official visits in Punjab must not come at the cost of students’ education.
Maryam Nawaz removes Jhelum DC Mir Raza with immediate effect, after the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi moved the Intermediate Second Annual Examinations 2026 Computer Science papers from Tuesday 10 November to Monday 30 November. The papers were postponed on the recommendation of the deputy commissioner, who cited the Chief Minister’s expected visit to Jhelum and Pind Dadan Khan on 10 November.
The Chief Minister had made her position clear before the visit. She had explicitly instructed that no public inconvenience, particularly to students appearing in examinations, should occur during her time in Jhelum. The postponement went directly against that instruction — and the response was swift.
What happened in Jhelum
The chain of events began with a letter from the Jhelum deputy commissioner’s office to the chairman of BISE Rawalpindi. The letter said the district administration was making extensive administrative, security and protocol arrangements for the Chief Minister’s visit, and that the resulting deployment of personnel made it unfeasible to ensure the smooth and uninterrupted conduct of the examination. It asked the board to reschedule the papers so that both the examination and the VVIP visit could proceed smoothly.
BISE Rawalpindi agreed. Board spokesman Arslan Cheema said Controller of Examinations Mubashir Saeed issued a notification announcing the revised schedule, moving the Computer Science papers to 30 November. The change applies to both the morning and evening groups, and the papers will be held at the previously assigned examination centres. The board will issue new roll number slips, while previously issued slips will remain valid.
Crucially, the change affects Jhelum district only. The controller clarified that Computer Science papers will be held as scheduled at all examination centres in the other districts under the Rawalpindi board’s jurisdiction.
But the Chief Minister saw the postponement very differently. When Maryam Nawaz removes Jhelum DC, she is acting on a principle she had stated in advance: that an official visit is no reason to disrupt a student’s examination.
Why the papers were moved
The deputy commissioner’s reasoning was practical. A chief minister’s visit brings with it a heavy administrative footprint — security cordons, protocol duties and the deployment of district officers who would otherwise be supervising examination centres. In his letter, the deputy commissioner argued that the same officers could not be in two places at once, and that the examination risked disruption if it went ahead on 10 November.
That argument did not survive contact with the Chief Minister. According to reports, Maryam Nawaz took the view that the postponement was a misuse of her visit — an administrative decision taken in her name, without her agreement, that punished students for a problem created by protocol.
“The postponement was a clear violation of my orders, and such misuse of an official visit for administrative disruptions is unacceptable,” the Chief Minister said, in remarks reported by NewzTodays.
The removal followed the same day. The Punjab administration issued an official notification confirming that Mir Raza had been removed from his post as deputy commissioner of Jhelum, and directed him to report to the Services and General Administration Department for further orders.
It is not the first time the Chief Minister has acted against a senior district officer. A similar removal in Jhang was reported in recent days, after the inappropriate use of an official vehicle — a pattern that suggests the Jhelum decision is part of a wider accountability drive rather than a one-off reaction.
The Chief Minister’s message to officers
The message from the Chief Minister’s Office goes well beyond one district. Following the Jhelum episode, the office reissued instructions to the entire provincial administration: citizens must not face any inconvenience during the Chief Minister’s visits, and no market, shop or business establishment will be closed during official visits.
The instructions have been circulated to all regional police officers, district police officers, commissioners and deputy commissioners across Punjab. The intent is unambiguous — the machinery of a VVIP visit must work around the public, not the other way round.
The episode also lands in the middle of a busy week for the Chief Minister, who on Thursday chaired a review meeting with deputy commissioners from across the province, pressing them on issues from crop residue burning to encroachments. The Jhelum removal will be read by every district officer in Punjab as a warning that instructions given in those meetings are expected to be followed, not filed away.
For the students of Jhelum, though, the politics matter less than the timetable. Their Computer Science papers — a subject that carries real weight for students hoping to move into computing and technology careers — were shifted by twenty days at short notice, disrupting revision plans and study schedules built around the original date.
What happens next for Jhelum students
As things stand, the Computer Science papers for Jhelum district will be held on Monday 30 November, with the morning group’s paper in the morning session and the evening group’s paper in the evening session, at the previously assigned centres. Students should watch for new roll number slips from the board, although their existing slips remain valid.
What has not yet been published is whether the examination will now be restored to its original date of 10 November following the deputy commissioner’s removal, or whether the 30 November date will stand. No successor has been named in Jhelum, and no response from the removed deputy commissioner has been reported.
For now, the episode stands as a test case for how Punjab’s administration handles the clash between protocol and public service. When Maryam Nawaz removes Jhelum DC, the message is that an examination hall matters more than a motorcade — and that officers who forget that distinction will answer for it.
Students and parents in Jhelum should follow announcements from BISE Rawalpindi for any change to the 30 November date, and check the board’s guidance on roll number slips before the examination day.
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