ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani prime minister’s special adviser on finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was sworn in as a federal minister at a ceremony at the President House on Friday.
Shaikh’s elevation as minister for six months comes in light of this week’s Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision ruling the formation of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization illegal on the grounds that its head, Shaikh, was an unelected official.
Pakistan’s Geo News said the prime minister would also appoint his commerce adviser Abdul Razzak Dawood and special assistant on health, Dr. Faisal Sultan, as federal ministers for six months.
According to the Pakistani constitution, the prime minister is empowered to appoint an unelected individual as a minister for six months under Article 91(9). After six months, the individual will “cease to be a minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan set up the Cabinet Committee on Privatization last year and made Shaikh its chairman, with two other special advisers – Abdul Razak Dawood and Dr. Ishrat Hussain – members of the body.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislator Rana Iradat Sharif Khan challenged the formation of the committee in court, arguing that only elected representatives of the people had the right to govern the country and unelected officials could not be a part of cabinet or its committees.
The IHC, in its short order on the petition, ruled that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head the government’s committees and subsequently set aside the notification of the CCoP.
The government has not indicated yet if it will appeal the court’s decision, which could have wide ranging implications for the administration of PM Khan, in which many important ministries, including finance, commerce, national security and health, are currently run by special advisers rather than elected members of parliament.
In a separate development, Faisal Javed Khan, a senator from PM Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, announced a cabinet reshuffle.
Sheikh Rasheed, the minister for railways, had been given charge of the interior ministry, interior minister Ejaz Shah moved to the ministry of narcotics and Azam Swati to railways, Khan said in a tweet:
Sheikh Rasheed has been given charge of the Interior Ministry, Ejaz Shah as the Minister for Narcotics Control and Azam Swati will hold portfolio of Railways. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has taken oath as Federal Minister for Finance.
— Faisal Javed Khan (@FaisalJavedKhan) December 11, 2020
