Asad Umar denies favour to brother Zubair

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ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar rejected a summary forwarded to him by the Cabinet Division for relaxing rules to facilitate former Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair in receiving pension.

According to details, a summary was prepared to be presented before Prime Minister Imran Khan for approval of Zubair’s pension release against rules by relaxing the set terms and conditions for the provision.

Under the rules, a governor is only eligible to receive pension if he has served in the same capacity for at least two years but Zubair, who is also the elder brother of the finance minister, remained in the office for just 18 months from Feb 02, 2017 to Aug 03, 2018, thus ineligible for the facility.

However, the official concerned prepared a favourable proposal citing examples from the past in this regard when during Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party regimes a few governors, including former Punjab governor Latif Khosa, were facilitated.

The Cabinet Division forwarded the summary through Finance Ministry where it was put before Asad Umar for approval but he rejected the request and forwarded it to the PM with his dissenting note.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vows to prefer merit over nepotism, however, a few important tasks have been assigned to Imran Khan’s friends.

British national Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, commonly known as Zulfi Bukhari, is the latest induction in Imran Khan’s official team, while some other friends have already been given cabinet berths, either at the centre or in Punjab.

Khan’s friend and British-Pakistani entrepreneur Aneel Musarrat recently made headlines when he was allowed to attend a cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Monday. Musarrat subsequently told that he would provide free advice to PM Imran Khan on his plans to build five million low-cost homes, but would not take up any formal role in the cabinet.