ISLAMABAD, March 20: In response to a petition alleging irregularities in the selection process for 44 commercial attaches recently posted abroad, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday stayed their appointments.

While waiting for a hearing date to be set, the court has sought a response from the Secretary of Commerce.

The petitioners, Sajid Mehmood Raja and Chaudhry Nauman Zafar, are both employees of the Pakistan Audit and Account Service.

Their counsel, Barrister Afzal Hussain, told Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan that the selection process for the 44 commercial attaches had discriminated against his clients.

`The entire process was an example of bad governance, and a violation of several articles of the Constitution,` he maintained.

The barrister stressed the importance of the Ministry of Commerce`s 62 commercial attache/trade officer positions, which place officers between BS-18 and BS-20 in the embassies of countries that have important commercial and trade relationships with Pakistan.

`We must fill these positions with qualified candidates,` he said, `because Pakistan is a developing country, and we cannot grow economically if we do not have strong commercial relationships with as many countries as possible.