Weeks-old footage of Information Minister Shibli Faraz is making rounds on Twitter, in which the minister had claimed that the appointment of then Pakistan Television (PTV) chairman Naeem Bukhari was made in line with the Supreme Court verdict.

Faraz, who had appeared on the Hamid Mir show, had said that the appointment of Bukhari was in line with the court order. He had added that the government wouldn’t take any risks and make an appointment against the SC verdict in the Ataul Haq Qasmi case.

But, it seems the minister was lying through his teeth. Because a fortnight after the claim, an Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict had asked the federal cabinet to review the appointment of Bukhari because he was overaged for the post. The federal cabinet had subsequently removed him from the post.

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In the clip, Hamid Mir had asked Faraz about the appointment of the PTV chairman, alluding to the plea in the high court that had questioned the qualification of Bukhari for the post.

At this, Faraz said that Bukhari was named as the PTV chairman after fulfilling all the requirements laid out by the top court in its judgement pertaining to the Ataul Haq Qasmi case. He also claimed that the journalist was being misled by some people who are making the appointment of Bukhari controversial.

BUKHARI BECOMES PTV CHAIRMAN:

In November 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had notified Bukhari, who has a vast experience of doing TV programmes, as chairman of PTV. The appointment was made after a court ruling in Sept 2020 declared the appointments of PTV chairman Arshad Khan and independent members of the board of directors illegal while directing the government to fill the vacant slots in accordance with the law. 

Bukhari, who has worked as an anchorperson and commentators on PTV for decades, had joined PTI in June 2016. At the time, he called Imran Khan the “only political leader who had the courage to speak the truth”. Bukhari also represented Imran when he went to the Supreme Court against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif following the Panama Papers leak.

The pleas that were later admitted by the apex court which disqualified Nawaz Sharif for being “dishonest” under Article 62 (1)(f).

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also hired the services of Bukhari as a special prosecutor to take up cases against close confidants of Sharif brothers — former Lahore Development Authority chief Ahad Cheema and former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad.