Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Special Assistant Naeemul Haque on Thursday said the impression that the premier’s friends are being given government portfolios is wrong. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader took to Twitter and said that he is one of the five founding members of the party. “I joined politics in 1984 with Tehreek-e-Istaqlal and contested during the 1988 National Assembly elections from Karachi and hence I am one of the five original founders of PTI,” he asserted. Naeemul Haque’s statement comes days after PM Imran Khan’s close friend Zulfi Bukhari was appointed as special assistant to Imran Khan on overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development. As the special assistant to the prime minister, Zulfi Bukhari will have the status of a state minister and his appointment has drawn widespread criticism. Published in Daily Times, September 21st 2018.