ISLAMABAD: An appeal has been filed against the objections raised by the Supreme Court’s registrar on a petition challenging Zulfiqar Bukhari’s appointment as the prime minister’s special assistant.
Following Bukhari’s appointment as a special assistant to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development last month, the petitioner had moved the top court against his appointment, stating that Bukhari was a “dual national”. The apex court’s registrar raised objections on the petition, following which the petitioner Adil Chattha said that the “objections on the petition are baseless”.
The appeal further requests the court “to reject the objections and hear the petition against Bukhari’s appointment”.
The petition said: “If dual nationals cannot be members of the national or provincial assemblies then they should not be appointed as premier’s special assistants either as they have similar responsibilities.”
“Bukhari should not be allowed to work as the premier’s special assistant and his appointment should be declared null and void with immediate effect. Work that cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly either,” the petition further said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Cabinet Division were made respondents in the petition.
Earlier, Bukhari’s appointment was challenged in the SC. The petition, which was filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, takes issue with Bukhari’s dual nationality and comments that he is currently being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
NAB had accused Bukhari of owning offshore companies on the British Virgin Islands and assets beyond his known sources of income.
The petition had argued that a person ineligible of becoming a member of parliament, and thus, a federal minister is ineligible for appointment as special assistant to the PM.
It had further stated that Bukhari’s appointment “paves the way for dual citizens and those guilty of inter-alia, misdeclaration of assets and contempt of court to be entrusted with decisions that determine the fate of the country”.
Earlier in 2015, the top court took strong exception to appointment Captain (r) Shujaat Azeem, also a dual national and a convicted person, as the special assistant to the prime minister on Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the position equivalent to the status of a state minister.
