https://hayatalyshaw.wordpress.com/2020/08/18/https-hayatalishaw-tumblr-com-post-626809499151384576-straightforwarduprightandgentlemanazamkhan-azam/

 Azam Khan is from Kanderkas - Sudham, a village in Mardan - Peshawar valley starts from sudham in the foothills of the Swat mountains. 

He belongs to a prominent political family of Yousafzais. His late father Abdullah Khan was Member of the Legislative Assembly in 50s and 60, siding with Fatima Jinnah against Ayub Khan. His father in law was the Nawab of Hoti who while being from the same yousafzai tribe was a political rival of his father but linked through intermarriages.

His early education is from Burn Hall Abbottabad at a time when it was managed by Dutch missionaries. He did his masters in international relations from Quaid e Azam university islmbd. 

He topped the country in CSS exams in 1988. 

While his early career was in Punjab, most of his service was in KP with short stints in between in Fed govt. 

A down to earth no nonsense offcr with strong likes and dislikes, he is a man who believes more in action than in paper pushing. A go getter he has made a name wherever he has served. Unlike a good bureaucrat, he is not a fan of stickler to rules and too many formalities.

He has a tendency to bend rules to what he thinks is right - not what the rule book says is right. He errs on the side of those who think that ends justify the means. 

People of Chunian (dist kasur) remember him as a young AC on his first assignment in 1992 for whom they went on strike to cancel his transfer orders manipulated by the local land mafia led by the then deputy speaker of Punjab Assembly. He endeared himself to the people when he did the unheard thing of removing ‘no admission without permission’ board of the AC offc and changed it to ‘welcome’. He has never changed his attitude and never looked back since then. A bit carefree in his offl dealings and eschewing protocol he tends to usually unsettle bureaucratic norms due to which he is not liked by his peers.  

His has been a continuous track record of falling in and out with various govts. 

In KP he was the youngest DC of Peshawar- appointed by the Musharraf Govt on its first day. Subsequently he was removed when he had a falling out with top offls of the province over introduction of cable TV in Peshawar despite their opposition to it. 

A versatile offcr he has strong experience in law n order and development domains. However his tendency to dominate affairs and speed things up at times creates more problems than it solves- for himself and others.  

He has served on top positions throughout his career- and under diverse govts from across the political divide. Usually posted on various assignments in crisis situations he has a record of being removed unceremoniously as he becomes intolerable to the sitting govts at times. 

Azam Khan has served as Political Agent of South Waziristan and Kurram Agencies, Commissioner Peshawar, IG Prisons, Secretary Tourism, Home Secretary, ACS FATA, ACS Planning & Development KP, Secreatry kp, Fed Sec SAFRON bfr being appointed by Imran Khan as his principal secretary the very day he became PM. 

As Political Agent South Waziristan, while the first to map militancy in the tribal areas he was removed when he had a falling out with the then corps cmndr over differences over how to handle militancy- he was against the infamous first Shakai Agreement. 

As Political Agent Kurram he was sent out to stamp out the inter sect battles going on there. He brokered peace within 2-3 months with the famous ‘Murree Accord’ which is still the basis for peace in the area after so many years. 

Due to his stint as IG Prisons a decade and a half back, KP prisons were the first in the country to get tiled toilets and flush systems. Numerous prison related reforms including computerisation ensued. However he was kicked out of the post and the province over differences with the MMA govt.  

He was posted as commissioner peshawar when militancy was at its peak, federal officers were reluctant to be posted in KP and the then ANP govt was thinking about shifting the seat of govt temporarily from peshawar to abbottabad. He faced it all boldly and intelligently. During this stint he established the first 1122 system in peshawar and later extended the same to other districts when he was home secretary. However he was removed when he developed differences with the late Bashir Bilour of ANP.  

He served as home secretary in similar challenging times and came up with the first formal cabinet approved counter terrorism policy of the country.  

As HS he also went for 

Establishment of Strategy & Analysis Wing (SAW) for profiling of the province and divisions to identify the trends in crimes, terrorism, militancy and political scene based on system based data.

He initiated Computerization of Arms License to improve service delivery and controlling illegal arms in the province by replacing old license books with highly secured machine printed license cards.

As Secretary Tourism in the midst of militancy with daily bomb blasts and suicide attacks he came up with the slogan of ‘Tourism to defeat Terrorism’ and launched initiatives such as 

-camping pods 

-galyaat beautification

-Kalaam beautification

-monthly stipends for artists and artisans

-revival of indigenous cultural heritage 

-Huner e hawa (showcasing amd encouraging talent of women) 

-Humer mela (showcasing amd encouragement talent of artisans 

People of KP are a witness to the fact that weekly beats of folk music emanating from Nishter Hall and the festivals on the Indus bank competed with the regular blasts from

terrorism in those bleak times of militancy. 

As ACS and then CS KP his exceptional performance was instrumental in winning the elections for PTI- a fact acknowledged by Imran Khan. It was in this stint that tangible results started being felt due to numerous proactive governance measures. 

As PSPM he has been the silent force in the background for establishment of 

⁃ citizen portal

⁃ Federal tourism policy 

⁃ Visa and tourists related NOC liberalisation

⁃ One stop Poverty Alleviation div and Ehsaas programme

⁃ Youth programme

⁃ CPC amendments for justice delivery in a year or so instead of decades

⁃ Women Inheritance Law

⁃  Concept and projects for PSDP plus ( development in partnership with private sector and without involvement of govt funds)

⁃ Directory retirement of inefficient govt servants 

As one ex Chief Justice of pakistan said publicly in open court that if there were a few more officers like azam khan, the country wud have been a different place.  

His friends say he is open minded, a team builder who speaks his mind irrespective of the forum and gets things done. But then he has his many detractors too who have criticise his style of working, interacting and functioning. To them he has never been a rule abiding good bureaucrat with meticulous working methods. Unpredictable, spontaneous and with a tendency to shoot from the hip, they cite his informal working style as not fitting into the mould of a good officer.