PM tells Zartaj to withdraw letter written for sister.

Byline: Maqbool Malik

Islamabad -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday took notice of the appointment of State Minister Zartaj Gul's sister to the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), after it invited a sharp criticism from public and sparked a debate on government claims about meritocracy.

Shabnam Gul, a BPS-18 officer, was serving as assistant professor in the International Relations Department of the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) and was appointed as director (BPS-19) in Nacta, Islamabad, on deputation for three years.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Naeemul Haq in a tweet on Sunday said that prime minister has directed the PTI leader and Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul to withdraw her letter written to NACTA regarding the appointment of her sister Shabnam Gul.

The Special Assistant said no one in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government can promote their relatives or friends by using their positions. This was against the ethics of PTI politics which has always opposed nepotism, he added.

Naeem appeared to be referring to a letter dated Feb 27, 2019, written by an individual in Zartaj's office to Nacta, which cited a telephonic conversation regarding Shabnam Gul's appointment in Nacta.

When contacted, Nacta initially declined to comment on the authenticity of the letter received. A statement issued later by a spokesperson of the authority said that Zartaj Gul did not write any letter. However, the statement confirmed that a letter attributed to her, which was being discussed in the media, was written by minister's principal staff officer to the interior secretary.

On Saturday, federal government appointed Shabnam as a director of Nacta while her picture was posted on the authority's website. The apparently sudden appointment of the LCWU assistant professor as a director of the key counter-terrorism body of the country raised many eyebrows.

The appointment of minister's sister especially drew ire on social media after it emerged that Shabnam had been disqualified as a researcher by Punjab University in 2007, and that her studentship for an MPhil degree was also cancelled on charges of plagiarism. The complaint against Shabnam Gul was that she and another researcher of the Department of Kashmir Studies at University Oriental College had plagiarised from a Master's degree thesis and...