Hanif Abbasi resigns as SAPM

PML-N leader's resignation comes after former minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed filed a petition against him in IHC

RAWALPINDI:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi resigned from the post of special assistant to the prime minister on Wednesday.

According to Abbasi’s resignation letter submitted to the premier for approval, he wanted to leave the post as he was “unable to perform at present”.

However, his resignation comes almost a month after former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed filed a petition against the PML-N leader's appointment as SAPM in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Read Shehbaz to reconsider Abbasi’s appointment as SAPM

Last month, Rashid, who is also the Awami Muslim League chief, challenged the appointment of Hanif Abbasi as SAPM in the IHC.

In the petition Rashid questioned the federal government’s appointment of Hanif Abbasi, stating that the office of the SAPM required the selection of “people possessing high virtues and strong moral fibre…to these important public offices.”

PHOTO: EXPRESS

Subsequently, the IHC had temporarily stopped Hanif Abbasi from performing his duties as special assistant to the prime minister.

The PML-N leader was notified as a premier's special aid, with the status of federal minister, on April 27.