Several appointments were made in some 31 government departments on political basis during the term of the former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi, it emerged on Friday.
It was revealed as the chief secretary of the province sought details of political appointments in different government departments, Geo News revealed.
According to the report, the appointed persons enjoyed the perks given to the officers, while they were also given vehicles on the verbal directives from the Chief Minister’s House.
A day earlier, former chief minister Punjab Parvez Elahi said that PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry’s earlier arrest would have saved his government from a collapse.
“This man’s arrest a week earlier would’ve saved our government,” Elahi said while addressing the PML-Q members, in Lahore on Thursday.
He had advised Mohsin Naqvi, the caretaker CM of the province, to fulfil the duties assigned to him in a rather ‘convenient’ manner, adding “do something good for the province before you leave [your office].”
According to the veteran politician, those who were close to ex-premier Khan had damaged its very basis.
Elahi had said that the arrest was of “one among four or five others”. He said Moonis, his son, is fond of him (Fawad Chaudhry) and that he had given him a ‘word of advice’ about it.
He had questioned as to how a caretaker CM could resort to retaliatory actions, and urged Naqvi to announce a date for the elections. “Imran Khan will once again become the prime minister of the country.”
In a backlash to Fawad’s arrest the same day, ex-Premier Imran Khan asked the ECP to explain as to what made the basis of their decision to choose Mohsin Naqvi and reject other nominees for caretaker Punjab CM.
According to Imran, Naqvi had been brought in as part of a plan to silence him, as he raised questions on the impartiality of the caretaker setup ahead of elections in the province.
Earlier this month, Punjab Assembly stood dissolved as Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman recused himself from the process, saying he will not become a part of the move.
According to Article 112(1) of the Constitution, the assembly stands automatically dissolved at expiration of 48 hours following the chief minister’s advice.
