Aminullah Chaudhry (urdu; امین اللہ چوہدری); 24 February 1944 - June 1, 2013) was a senior Pakistani bureaucrat and remained Principal Secretary to Prime Minister (PSPM) of Pakistan

Malik Meraj Khalid Malik Meraj Khalid (; 1 February 1916 – 13 June 2003) was a Pakistani advocate, left wing politician and Marxist philosopher who served as the Caretaker prime minister of Pakistan from November 1996 until February 1997. He was noted as bein ...

and Director General (DG), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Pakistan.

Early life and education

He took his earlier education in two missionary schools; namely St.Anthonys and St.Placid in Lahore and

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

, respectively. He then moved on to Government College (GC), Lahore for higher education and got his name marked on the Academic Roll of Honor. Prior to Government College, he did his 'A' levels from

Aitchison College Aitchison College is an elite private, boarding school, boarding Junior School, Secondary School for boys in Lahore, Pakistan. It has educated Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime ministers, including Imran Khan, Feroz Khan Noon, president of Pakist ...

in Lahore. He held an honors degree in physics from Punjab University and LLB from PULC and an LL.M in corporate law from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(LSE), UK.

Career as civil servant

Aminullah joined

Civil Service of Pakistan The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...

(CSP) in 1967 and held wide spectrum of secretarial and field appointments. He remained Commissioner

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

and Commissioner

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

division (Punjab Govt.). On secretarial positions, he served as Secretary Finance (Punjab Govt.) Secretary local government and rural development (Punjab Govt.), Secretary Education (Punjab Govt), Director General (DG)

Lahore Development Authority Lahore Development Authority (LDA) is responsible for new planned development in Lahore, Pakistan. It also regulates and issues permits for new construction and housing projects, private houses, commercial development and remodels. It also con ...

(LDA). He also remained Secretary to Prime Minister during 1996-97 in caretaker government. His last appointment was Director General (DG), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with Additional charge of the Aviation Division in the Ministry of Defense (MoD), Govt. of Pakistan. He was an avid golfer and won the Amateur Golf Championship of Punjab in 1976. Aminullah was batchmate of senior bureaucrats; Shahid Hamid, Saeed Mehdi and Afzal Kahut.

Plane ''Hi-jacking'' controversy

Aminullah was the in charge of civil aviation Pakistan whilst serving as Director General (DG), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in Karachi on 12 Oct 1999, and allegedly upon his instructions the return flight of then Chief of Army Staff, General

Pervaiz Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as t ...

' from

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

to Karachi, was not allowed to land in Karachi. After the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

of General Pervaiz Musharraf, Aminullah was immediately sacked from his position and was arrested and put in solitary confinement. Aminullah, along with the Prime Minister

Sharif Sharīf or Sherif (, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the fami ...

and other senior officials had to face plane hi-jacking case by military government in a Pakistani trial court. Later, he gave testimony, that he had received Sharif's orders to waylay the Musharrafs plane and got acquitted from the case by becoming a state witness and approver.

Literary work

He authored two books post retirement from government service. * Political Administrators: The Story of the Civil Service of Pakistan * Hijacking from the Ground: The Bizarre Story of PK 805

Death

Aminullah Chaudry died on June 1, 2013, in Lahore, Pakistan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhry, Aminullah 1944 births 2013 deaths Pakistani civil servants Alumni of the London School of Economics Civil aviation in Pakistan Aitchison College alumni