Islamabad High Court dismisses plea against appointment of commercial attachés

Court says no specific policy for such appointments.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court on Friday dismissed a writ petition of 64 officers of commerce and trade group who had challenged the appointments of four commercial attachés at Pakistani missions in different countries last year.

The court in its order observed that there was no specific policy for appointment of commercial attachés in foreign missions therefore the petitioners were not aggrieved party.

In June last year, the court had stopped appointments till the decision of the case, however, the four appointed officials proceeded on with their postings as commercial attachés in Pakistani missions at different countries.

The appointments were challenged in the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench by Nauman Aslam along with 63other officers of the ministry of commerce and trade.

The court had sought reply from the officials of the ministry of commerce and trade on the matter.

The petitioners through their counsel had maintained that the four attaches were appointed on political basis and in violation of the policy as they were not government employees. While the petitioners had already received training for the jobs and deserved postings, they maintained.

However, in his arguments, the counsel for the defence Advocate Babar Awan maintained before the court that the government had no specific policy for the appointment of attachés in foreign missions.

In future, the officials of commerce and trade will be included in the selection process for the appointment of attaches, Awan assured the court.

The four attaches were Ayesha Saeed, daughter of Gulshan Saeed, a PML-Q senator and member of the Senate standing committee on commerce and trade, Shehryar Talpur, son of Nawab Yousaf Talpur a former federal minister and ruling PPP member of the National Assembly, Fawad Ali Shah and Farida Abbasi.

The IHC had reserved judgment on the petition on October 12 after both sides had completed their arguments. The case was transferred from the LHC Rawalpindi Bench to the IHC earlier this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2011.