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

and Director General (DG),

Civil Aviation Authority A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register. Role Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...

(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 ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

, 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 ( ur, ایچیسن کالج) is an independent, semi-private boys school for boarding and day students from grade 1–13 in Lahore, Pakistan. It has a tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports, and co-curri ...

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

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(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 (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

and Commissioner

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

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, and commercial development. It also manages Lahor ...

(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),

(CAA) in Karachi on 12 Oct 1999, and allegedly upon his instructions the return flight of then Chief of Army Staff, General

Pervaiz Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of th ...

' from

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

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

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

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 ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, fr ...

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