The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday admitted the petition challenging Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari’s appointment after setting aside the objections raised by the registrar’s office.
The petition was filed by two university graduates Mirza Moiz Baig and Adil Chattha.
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard the appeal against the registrar office objections in his chamber.
Bukhari is a close aide and friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan and was appointed as special assistant to the premier on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development.
The petition filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution takes issue with Bukhari’s dual nationality and states that he is currently under investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The petition argues that a person ineligible to become a member of the parliament and thus a federal minister cannot be given the status of a state minister through appointment by the prime minister as a special assistant.
In 2015, SC took exception to the prime minister’s appointment of Shujaat Azeem, also a dual national, as a special assistant to the PM on aviation.