PM appoints a civilian to run CPEC affairs

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday appointed Khalid Mansoor as his special assistant on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor affairs, resulting in the resignation of chairman of CPEC Authority, Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa.

“ prime minister is pleased to appoint Khalid Mansoor as special assistant to the prime minister on CPEC affairs with immediate effect,” according to a notification issued by the PM Office. The appointment will be in an honorary capacity, it added.

Mansoor has not been appointed as the chairman of CPEC Authority, which is a statutory position under the CPEC Authority Act of 2021. Under the law and the Rules of the Business of the 1973, the special assistants do not enjoy any powers and are invited in cabinet meetings only on “special invitations”.

Mansoor’s appointment symbolises with giving the control of CPEC back to the civilians, which appears in line with the strategy of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was against setting up the CPEC Authority.