ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar rejected a summary forwarded to him by the Cabinet Division for relaxation of rules, allowing former Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair to receive pension, Daily Jang reported Thursday.



According to details, a summary was prepared to be presented before Prime Minister Imran Khan for approval of ex-governor Zubair's pension release against rules by relaxing the set terms and conditions for the provision.

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Under the rules, a governor is only eligible to receive pension if he has served in the same capacity for at least two years but Zubair, who is also brother of the finance minister, remained in the office for just 18 months from Feb 02, 2017 to Aug 03, 2018, thus ineligible for the facility.

However, the concerned official prepared a favourable proposal citing examples from the past in this regard when during Pervaz Musharraf and Pakistan Peoples' Party regimes a few governors were facilitated, among them was former Punjab governor Latif Khosa.

The Cabinet Divison forwarded the summary through Finance Ministry where it was put before Asad Umar for approval but he rejected the summary right away and sent it to the PM with his dissenting note.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vows to prefer merit over nepotism, however, a few important tasks have been assigned to Imran Khan’s friends.

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British national Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, commonly known as Zulfi Bukhari, is the latest induction in Imran Khan’s official team, while some other friends have already been given cabinet berths, either at the center or in Punjab.

Khan's friend and British-Pakistani entrepreneur Aneel Musarrat recently made headlines when he was allowed to attend a cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Monday. Musarrat subsequently told The News that he would provide free advice to PM Imran Khan on his plans to build five million low-cost homes, but would not take up any formal role in the cabinet.