ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has warned special assistants to the prime minister that it will move against them ex parte if they do not submit a reply to a petition filed against their appointment by next week.

When the IHC division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on Wednesday resumed hearing of the petition, deputy attorney general Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan informed the court that some of the special assistants had not submitted their reply so far.

The court expressed displeasure since the notices to all the respondents were issued during three different hearings. Mr Khan requested the court to issue the notices again.

However, Justice Farooq warned that if the respondents did not submit the replies by next week, the court would proceed ex parte against them.

The petitioner had requested the court to declare as illegal appointments of 15 special assistants to the PM, including Zulfi Bukhari, Shahzad Akbar, Nadeem Afzal, Zafar Mirza, Ali Nawaz Awan, Dr Moeed Yusuf and Usman Dar.

The petitioner’s counsel informed the court that during pendency of the case, Naeemul Haq passed away, while Firdous Ashiq Awan was removed and Yousaf Baig Mirza, Shamshad Akhtar and Iftikhar Durrani resigned as special assistants.

The petitioner also requested the court to direct the National Accountability Bureau to investigate the acts of the special assistants in terms of Section 9 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2020