A day after he was removed as finance minister of Pakistan, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh tested positive for the coronavirus, new finance minister Hammad Azhar said on Tuesday, wishing his predecessor good health.
Pakistan is in the midst of a third wave of the coronavirus and recorded 4,084 new infections in the last 24 hours, with 100 deaths, a three-month record for fatalities.
Information minister Shibli Faraz said on Monday Prime Minister Imran Khan believed a new finance team was needed to check soaring inflation and “devise pro-poor policies.”
“Just found out that Dr. Hafeez Sh has tested positive for Covid-19,” Azhar wrote on Twitter. “I pray for his swift recovery and good health.”

Just found out that Dr Hafeez Sh has tested positive for Covid-19. I pray for his swift recovery and good health. Ameen.

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) March 30, 2021

Shaikh, formerly the prime minister’s special adviser on finance, was sworn in as federal minister last December. His elevation as minister for six months came in light of an Islamabad High Court ruling that the formation of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization was illegal on the grounds that its head, Shaikh, was an unelected official.
Earlier this month, Shaikh lost an opportunity to get elected when he lost a key senate election to an opposition candidate, making it certain he would have to be removed. 
Khan “gave the portfolio of finance to Hammad Azhar who is a young and able minister so that he devises policies according to the ground realities of Pakistan and the poor get relief,” Faraz told a local TV channel on Monday.
He said he did not know about Shaikh’s future in the government, adding that more changes in the cabinet would be disclosed tomorrow, Tuesday.
The removal — the second of a finance minister in the 2-1/2 years of Khan’s tenure — comes amidst the restart of a $6 billion IMF bailout program that had been suspended for one year over questions about fiscal and revenue reforms.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is also preparing to float Eurobonds worth around $2 billion to raise capital from international markets about two months before presenting a budget.
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.”
Meanwhile, a top aide of the prime minister, Faisa Javed Khan, said on Twitter the PM had “fully recovered” from the coronavirus and would gradually resume his official duties:

Alhamdulillah, Prime Minister Imran Khan has fully recovered. He has
resumed work gradually & started building up his work routine as per doctors' instructions keeping in view national & intl guidelines. May ALLAH grant health to all. Ameen. Take care of urself & others #StaySafe

— Faisal Javed Khan (@FaisalJavedKhan) March 30, 2021