LAHORE - A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court against appointment of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s unelected advisers and special assistants holding dual nationalities.
The petition, filed by advocate Nadeem Sarwar, said that Adviser on Finance to the PM Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was not an MNA nor a senator yet he was heading the Ministry of Finance.
“According to Article 92 of the Constitution, only an MNA can perform duties of a federal minister on the prime minister’s recommendation,” said the petition. The petition said that the Article 2(A) states that a non-elected person could not use the State’s powers and added that an adviser who was a dual national could be a threat to the country’s security.
The petitioner wanted PM Khan and his unelected cabinet members to be stopped from working until the court decided on the matter.
The advocate made the PM, his advisers, assistants and Law Minister Farogh Naseem respondents in the case.
On Sunday, the government revealed that five of its cabinet members were dual nationals while one had a green card and the other a residency.
Among the foreign nationals are Zulfi Bukhari (British citizenship), Shahzad Syed Qasim (US citizenship), Nadeem Afzal Gondal (Canadian citizenship), Shahbaz Gill (US green card), Tania Aidrus (Canadian citizenship and permanent residency of Singapore), Nadeem Babar (US citizenship) and Moeed Yusuf (US resident).
Once this news spread, opposition parties began demanding the resignation of these government officials, however, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that there was no problem in Pakistanis holding foreign nationalities serving the country.
“The law allows it. There’s no problem with it,” Qureshi was quoted as saying. He said this was not surprising since previous governments also had appointed people with foreign nationalities. “The prime minister has appointed technocrats. They are all experts of their respective fields,” he said.
He added that the law bars dual nationals from becoming a senator or member of the National Assembly.