The PM’s Adviser on Information Technology, Sardar Latif Khosa, on Tuesday tendered his resignation in protest against clipping of his powers as the In-charge Minister for Information Technology (IT) but President Asif Ali Zardari rejected the resignation while directing him to continue his job of Adviser to the PM on IT.
Sardar Abdul Latif Khosa, who met President Zardari on Tuesday, tendered his resignation against the backdrop of his restricted role only as the Adviser to the PM on IT while all the powers and privileges as In-charge Minister for the Ministry of Information Technology having been taken away from him.
According to sources, the main issue of his protest resignation was of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s decision to keep the ministry with him. However, the president did not accept the resignation, saying that Latif Khosa was an old party loyalist who had remained steadfast and served selflessly the cause of democracy and the party through thick and thin.
The president said Latif Khosa not only stood by Shaheed Mohtarma Bhutto and the party leadership in difficult times but also was a gifted and competent person whom the party and the government would not abandon. The president asked Latif Khosa to take back his resignation and continue working as Adviser to the Prime Minister.
On Monday, the prime minister’s office had issued a notification in which it was stated that, “Latif Khosa is Adviser to the Prime Minister on Information Technology and Telecommunication and has not been removed from that position. He would continue to be the Adviser. Prime minister will hold the portfolio as the minister in-charge of Information Technology.”
Sources said Sardar Latif Khosa has taken this notification as a humiliation and tendered his resignation to President Asif Ali Zardari instead of the prime minister. Latif Khosa had remained controversial as earlier the prime minister had removed him as the attorney general on the directions of the Supreme Court and appointed him as his adviser.
The removal of Sardar Latif Khosa as the attorney general last year came in the midst of allegations. According to sources, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat was receiving several complaints in connection with his ministry. Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Technology Birjees Tahir also took a serious notice of corruption and irregularities in the IT ministry.
Sardar Abdul Latif Khosa, who met President Zardari on Tuesday, tendered his resignation against the backdrop of his restricted role only as the Adviser to the PM on IT while all the powers and privileges as In-charge Minister for the Ministry of Information Technology having been taken away from him.
According to sources, the main issue of his protest resignation was of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s decision to keep the ministry with him. However, the president did not accept the resignation, saying that Latif Khosa was an old party loyalist who had remained steadfast and served selflessly the cause of democracy and the party through thick and thin.
The president said Latif Khosa not only stood by Shaheed Mohtarma Bhutto and the party leadership in difficult times but also was a gifted and competent person whom the party and the government would not abandon. The president asked Latif Khosa to take back his resignation and continue working as Adviser to the Prime Minister.
On Monday, the prime minister’s office had issued a notification in which it was stated that, “Latif Khosa is Adviser to the Prime Minister on Information Technology and Telecommunication and has not been removed from that position. He would continue to be the Adviser. Prime minister will hold the portfolio as the minister in-charge of Information Technology.”
Sources said Sardar Latif Khosa has taken this notification as a humiliation and tendered his resignation to President Asif Ali Zardari instead of the prime minister. Latif Khosa had remained controversial as earlier the prime minister had removed him as the attorney general on the directions of the Supreme Court and appointed him as his adviser.
The removal of Sardar Latif Khosa as the attorney general last year came in the midst of allegations. According to sources, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat was receiving several complaints in connection with his ministry. Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Technology Birjees Tahir also took a serious notice of corruption and irregularities in the IT ministry.
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