President Alvi appoints Ahad Cheema as adviser to PM Shehbaz on establishment

President Arif Alvi appointed on Thursday Ahad Cheema as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's adviser on establishment, it was reported.

The former civil servant and senior bureaucrat was appointed as an adviser on the advice of the prime minister with the status of federal minister, with immediate effect.

Cheema was the first high-profile arrest in Punjab by the NAB before the general elections of 2018. A BPS-19 PAS officer, he was the head of the Lahore Development Authority during the last PML-N government.

In April, the coalition federal government withdrew the charge sheet against Cheema and also notified that all pending inquiries against him have been dismissed. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister's Office had accepted Cheema's resignation from service.

Charge sheet, inquiries against Ahad Cheema withdrawn

Last year, Cheema was released from jail after a pre-conviction incarceration spanning over three years in connection with three references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Also, in recognition of his services in constructing the Lahore metro, Cheema was conferred the award of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan.