ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the appointment of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA and former finance minister Asad Umar as chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance.
According to the regulations, Umar will be first nominated as a member of the committee and then he will be appointed as the chairman.
The MNA from Islamabad was sacked last month and was replaced with a veteran economist Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, a former World Bank official, who also served as finance minister from 2010-2013, as an adviser on finance.
In a recent meeting, the prime minister had reportedly tried to convince Asad Umar to rejoin his cabinet. Lately, the premier in his statement on the cabinet reshuffle said the former finance minister would re-join his team of ministers soon.
Talking to journalists at the Prime Minister’s Office, he described the reshuffle as a change in ‘batting order’.
The prime minister said that Umar would be back in the cabinet. “Asad Umar is intelligent and he is precious [asset]. He will return to the cabinet soon,” Khan said.