Ahad Cheema appointed as Adviser to PM

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday issued an official notification regarding the appointment of former bureaucrat Ahad Cheema as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Establishment.

The official notification No 3-1/2022-Min-I issued on June 9 (Thursday) stated, "In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article-93 of the Constitution ofslamic Republic of Pakistan, the President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, has been pleased to appoint Mr. Ahad Khan Cheema, as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Establishment, with the status of federal minister, with immediate effect.”

Ahad Cheema has recently resigned from his post after showing dissatisfaction towards the Government of Pakistan, for acting as a silent spectator when he was roped into a 'politically motivated campaign' spearheaded by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), ahead of the 2018 general elections.

Cheema had joined the District Management Group (now called Pakistan Administrative Service) in 2001 and had served under former chief ministers Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi and Shehbaz Sharif on various welfare and development projects. He proved his worth and became an integral part of the successive governments. He was the first high-profile arrest in Punjab by the NAB before the 2018 general elections. A BPS-19 PAS officer, he was the head of the Lahore Development Authority during the last PML-N government and was conferred the award of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in recognition of his services for carrying out the Lahore Metro Bus Service Project.

The newly-appointed minister had served 38 months (Feb 2018 to April 2021) in jail, while being under trial in different NAB references, including Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme, Paragon Housing Society and asset beyond means reference. In his comments after resigning from the civil service, Cheema said, “I have only resigned from my civil service but not from the public life and look forward to playing my role for the country.”