Pakistan PM Imran Khan appoints his lawyer as head of state-run channel PTV

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has appointed a lawyer, who led his legal team in the Panama Papers leak case, as the head of the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV), media reports said on Tuesday.

The appointment of lawyer Naeem Bukhari was made in apparent haste as the federal cabinet had in its meeting last week considered a brief for his appointment but did not endorse his induction as PTV chairman, Dawn newspaper reported.

The information ministry had submitted the brief for the appointment of three independent directors of PTV, recommending Bukhari, chartered accountant Syed Waseem Raza and prominent writer Asghar Nadeem Syed as principal candidates.

Bukhari and Nadeem are over 65 and, therefore, the ministry had sought relaxation from the federal cabinet regarding their age.

However, in contradiction to the observations by the cabinet regarding resubmission of the brief for the appointment of directors and chairman of PTV, the information ministry on its own notified Bukhari as chairman on Monday, the paper said.

The notification read: “The Federal Government is pleased to appoint Shahzada Naeem Bukhari as Independent Director of Pakistan Television Corporation Board.” It further stated that the Federal Government has also approved nomination of Bukhari as chairman PTVC Board in line with the Pakistan Television Corporation. The chairman would hold office for a period of 3 years.

The Islamabad High Court in September set aside the appointments of PTV chairman Arshad Khan and board members Zhouhair A Khaliq, Prof Ijazul Hassan, Syed Mohammad Ali Bokhari, Mian Yousaf Salahuddin, Rashid Ali Khan and Farman Ullah Jan.