A lawyer named GM Chaudhry has filed a petition in the Islamabad high court looking to oust the five special assistants for the prime minister claiming that the appointment of these assistants is illegal. It also claims that the assistants will only “cause loss to the national exchequer” and provide “illegal gains to the special assistants”.
The five special assistants include; Special Assistant to the PM on Political Affairs Dr Syed Asif Saeed Kirmani; Special Assistant to PM on Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail; Special Assistant to the PM on Media Affairs Dr Musadiq Malik; Special Assistant to the PM on Law, Cabinet Secretariat, Barrister Zafarullah Khan; and Special Assistant to the PM on Institutional Reforms Khwaja Zaheer Ahmed.
He also asked the reason for appointing special assistants when federal minister had already been appointed for the same job. It also claimed that the PM was only giving benefits to the people close to him.
He asked the court to declare all “actions, decisions or exercise of any power under any law as well as receipt of financial benefits” illegal and direct the authorities concerned to recover the amount received by them.
Chaudhry stated that the making of these secretaries was in violation of Articles 3, 4, 5, 8, 25, 27, 91, 92 of the Constitution as well as a cognizable offence under Section 9 of the National Accountability Ordinance of 1999.
He said special assistants did not have “any outstanding intellectual credentials or recognition as well as specialisations except being political stooges and toadies of a particular person or a political party”.
