2 key aides of Pak PM Imran Khan step down

TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ Two key aides to the Pakistan Prime Minister, including de facto Health Minister Zafar Mirza, have resigned, amid the government facing stiff criticism for appointing individuals with a dual nationality or holding another countrys permanent residency as SAPMs, media reports said on Thursday. Two notifications issued by the Cabinet Division said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Imran Khan had accepted resignations of Mirza and Tania Aidrus, the Special Assistant to the PM (SAPM) on Digital Pakistan.

Taking to Twitter, Mirza, the outgoing SAPM on Health, said that he had come to Pakistan on a personal invitation of Khan after leaving the World Health Organiza­tion (WHO). “I worked hard and honestly. It was a privilege to serve Pakistan. I am satisfied that I leave at a time when COVID-19 has declined in Pakistan as a result of a grand national effort,” he said.

 Mirza, who was assigned the portfolio of national health ser­vices in April 2019 and over­saw the country’s res­ponse to the pandemic, said he made the decision to resign over “negative discussion about the role of SAPMs and criticism of the government”. He told that there were a number of reasons behind his resignation and he had written each and every thing in his resignation sent Khan.