NA lawyers fees worth more than Rs35 million were paid by the National Assembly Secretariat to private lawyers between 2022 and 2026. The money was used mainly to fight cases aimed at blocking the release of information under Right to Information laws.
According to records released under an order of the Pakistan Information Commission, the biggest spending happened in financial year 2022-23 when Rs20.4 million went to eight lawyers. Later years saw smaller amounts: Rs2.64 million in 2023-24, Rs11.1 million in 2024-25 and Rs1.61 million in 2025-26.
The details came out after journalist Saddia Mazhar filed an appeal under the Right of Access to Information Act 2017. The Secretariat admitted it had hired ten special counsel since January 2022. These included Hafiz S.A. Rehman, Irfan Qadir, Ilyas Siddiqui, Arfat Ahmed Chaudhary, Amaad Nasir Kundi, Lamia Niazi, Sanaullah, Ahsan Bhoon, Anwar Mughal and Farhad Ali Khan Durrani.
Advocate Ahsan Bhoon received the single highest payment of Rs9.9 million in 2024-25. Irfan Qadir got Rs7.5 million, while Barrister Lamia Niazi was paid Rs6.9 million in 2022-23. Arfat Ahmed Chaudhary received money in all four years, totaling Rs4.41 million.
The cases started when the Information Commission issued show-cause notices to the NA Secretariat secretary over RTI appeals. The Secretariat challenged those notices in the Islamabad High Court, which sent the matters back to the Commission.
Director General of the NA Media Wing Zafar Sultan confirmed that private lawyers were engaged and paid around Rs35 million. He claimed the hiring took place during the PTI tenure and that no counsel was hired under the present government. Records, however, show 14 cases were filed, mostly in 2023.
While no clear wrongdoing is proven, the heavy use of private lawyers raises questions about spending public money. The Attorney General’s office already exists as the government’s main legal arm, yet the Secretariat preferred outside counsel paid from the national purse.
