National Asse­mbly paid lawyers Rs35m to keep lid on Right to Information requests

ISLAMABAD: The National Asse­mbly Secretariat paid over Rs35 million to private lawyers between 2022 and 2026, ostensibly to argue for the suppression of information in cases involving the release of details und­er Right to Information (RTI) laws.

According to information made public in compliance with an order of the Pakistan Information Commission, the highest annual expenditure was recorded in FY2022-23. The NA Secretariat subsequently paid out legal fees to the tune of Rs2.64m in 2023-24, Rs11.1m in 2024-25 and Rs1.61m in FY2025-26.

The information was made public in compliance with the Commission’s order in Appeal No. 5626-04/2026, filed by journalist Saddia Mazhar under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.

The NA Secretariat disclosed that it had empanelled 10 special counsel. This person would contest cases on its behalf since January 2022. These lawyers including Hafiz S.A. While Advocate Ilyas Siddiqui received Rs2.85m.

Furthermore, Advocate Arfat Ahmed Chaudhary received payments in all four years — Rs1.35m in 2022-23, Rs960,000 in 2023-24, Rs1.2m in 2024-25 and Rs900,000 in 2025-26 — totalling Rs4.41m.

According to the record, the litigation arose from appeals in RTI cases, in which the Pakistan Information Commission issued show-cause notices to the secretary of the NA Secretariat, rehman, Irfan Qadir, Ilyas Siddiqui, Arfat Ahmed Chaudhary, Amaad Nasir Kundi, Lamia Niazi, Sana­ullah, Ahsan Bhoon, Anwar Mughal and Farhad Ali Khan Durrani.

Official claims counsel were engaged during PTI tenure

According to the records, Advo­cate Ahsan Bhoon received Rs9.9m in 2024-25, the highest payment to an individual lawyer during this period.

Advocate Irfan Qadir received Rs7.5m, Barrister Lamia Niazi was paid Rs6.9m in 2022-23. The Secretariat then challenged these notices before the Islamabad High Court. It were remanded to the Commission for final adjudication.

When approached for comment, Zafar Sultan, director general of the National Assembly’s Media Wing confirmed to Dawn that private lawyers were engaged by the Secretariat, who were paid around Rs35m in legal fees.

Mr Sultan claimed that the lawyers were engaged during the tenure of the PTI, and that no counsel had been hired during the tenure of current administration.

However, RTI records further show that the Secretariat filed a total of 14 cases — 12 in 2023 and one each in 2024 and 2025, while no cases were filed in 2022 or 2026.

While the revelation doesn’t hint at any wrongdoing, it does raise questions regarding fiscal prudence, as the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) is the principal law officer of the federation, while the AGP office and other federal law officers constitute the administration’s official legal machinery.

The engagement of legal counsel outside of the available pool of government lawyers, who were paid using public funds, is bound to raise eyebrows.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2026