PM trusts his unelected aides to fight coronavirus

Editor Investigations

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is relying entirely on his friends and unelected as well as unaccountable technocrat advisers and special assistants to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

No elected federal minister or PTI member of the National Assembly/ Senate, who are accountable to people and Parliament, has been given any role in this national challenge of critical importance.

Dr Zafar Mirza, the premier’s special assistant on health, has been made responsible for the Health Ministry but he too is relying more on the employees of World Health Organisation (WHO) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) than the ministry’s bureaucracy.

Dr Mirza has a team of consultants, who are calling themselves as advisers to the minister (Dr Mirza) whereas the Health Minister is the prime minister himself. All these consultants-cum-advisers are paid by the WHO and USAID.

Dr Mirza has little connection with the bureaucracy of the Health Ministry as his secretariat is managed by the group of these consultants. There is no interaction between this team of consultants and formal wings and sections of the Health Ministry.

Similarly, Moeed Yousef, another unelected aide of PM Imran Khan, has been involved in the government’s management of coronavirus pandemic. Moeed Yousef is Special Assistant to PM for National Security but he also heads sub-committee on Corona management and co-chairs National coordination committee.

Another unelected friend and aide of the premier Zulfi Bukhari is Special Assistant to PM for Overseas Pakistanis. He heads committee on Pakistani students stranded in China due to coronavirus outbreak.

The elected Interior Minister, Ijaz Ahmad Shah, rarely participates in any coordination meeting. He is occasionally invited to meetings presided over by the prime minister.

Strangely, the Interior Secretary is not included in the national coordination committee established by the prime minister.

Although border control, airport emigration and national shutdown is responsibility of the Interior Ministry, the secretary interior is missing from the committee. It is also relevant to mention here that administration of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is also under the Interior Ministry.

Another friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dr Faisal Sultan of Shaukat Khanam Hospital is key member of core committee headed by Dr Zafar Mirza. Dr Faisal’s

say in all matters pertaining to quarantine and technical issues is considered final.

Another special assistant to the PM and unelected aide Tania Aidrus, who is in-charge for digital Pakistan, has been made in-charge of control and communication center set up in the Ministry of Health. She is also in-charge of website giving information to people about coronavirus.

Another unelected Special Assistant to PM Dr firdous Ashiq Awan is in-charge for information sharing, public awareness and media campaign. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting is the PM himself.

Legally, constitutionally and technically, Prime Minister Imran Khan has made himself responsible for all matters since he has entrusted his friends and unelected aides, some of who are technocrats, responsible for all matters pertaining to corona.

However, it is interesting to note that while all other unelected advisers and friends are seen playing important role in the country’s fight against coronavirus, the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Health and its head Dr Nausherwan Burki is missing from the scene.

Dr Burki is prime minister’s cousin. The task force under Burki is comprised of few of those who had helped Imran Khan set up Shaukat Khanam Hospital. Burki has been calling shots since July 2018 and all secretaries health and ministers have been taking directions from this task force which the prime minister proudly calls “My Task Force”.

Previously Dr Burki always had the last word in every matter pertaining to health but during these testing times the task force has vanished.