ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected the appeal filed against the removal of special aides to Prime Minister Imran Khan. The court said that the PM has the power to appoint experts as his aides and did not doubt the patriotism and loyalty of dual nationals.
An appeal was heard in the Supreme Court against the Islamabad High Court’s decision to dismiss the petition seeking removal of special assistants to the prime minister. Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said at the start of the hearing that Justice Muneeb Akhtar had apologized for hearing the case, after which a new two judge bench was constituted headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan.
During a hearing, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, remarked that the SC had laid down the rules for special assistants in Zulfi Bukhari’s case.
Petitioner Ikram Chaudhry’s lawyer took the position that his case was not about dual citizenship but about numbers, the army of aides and advisers to the Prime Minister. According to Article 93 of the Constitution, only five advisers can be appointed, however, the appointment of a special assistant is against Article 99, petitioner lawyer said befor the court.
In response, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan said that you have done all these things in the High Court, where you had only raised the issue of dual citizenship, the decision also decided that the Prime Minister can appoint an expert in any field as his special assistant. It is not forbidden to do so unless there is a ban on work, the loyalty of dual nationals cannot be doubted, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan remarked.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that the Rules of Business state that a person with dual citizenship can be a special assistant, while the constitution states that the prime minister can have his assistants.
On this, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of Islamabad High Court not to dismiss the special assistants and dismissed the appeal. However, detailed decision will be released later.
Comments are closed.