Asad Mahmood NAB notice: Fazl's son summoned over 4,252 Pakistan Post jobs
NAB has called ex-minister Asad Mahmood on 10 November over Pakistan Post hiring in 2022-23. What the notice alleges, the FIA case and what happens next.
The National Accountability Bureau has summoned former communications minister Asad Mahmood, son of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, over alleged illegal hiring at Pakistan Post during his time in office. NAB’s Rawalpindi office has told him to appear before its investigation team at 11am on Tuesday, 10 November.
The notice was issued on Wednesday, 4 November. Mahmood ran the communications ministry, which oversees Pakistan Post, in 2022 and 2023 under the PDM government.
What the NAB notice alleges
The numbers are at the centre of the case. According to the notice, the Establishment Division had allowed Pakistan Post to recruit 3,938 people, but 4,252 were hired, about 300 more than permitted.
NAB also says appointments were made against 2,646 posts that had already been abolished, against the instructions of a cabinet committee. The committee had recommended hiring on contract through a testing agency; instead, many people were given permanent jobs, which the bureau says has added a lasting cost to an organisation that already struggles to pay its way.
The investigation is also looking at:
- the use of fake and forged documents by some candidates
- the hiring of people above the age limit
- violations of the provincial domicile quota
- the political links of some of those selected
The notice warns that failing to appear can lead to legal action under Section 31 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.
A second case at the FIA
NAB is not the only agency on this file. The FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle in Islamabad has opened its own inquiry, number 197/2026, into the same recruitment. It sent Mahmood a notice on 30 October asking him to appear on 2 November to record a statement. It has not been made public whether he appeared.
Neither Mahmood nor the JUI-F had commented on the NAB notice by Wednesday evening. A summons is a step in an inquiry, not a finding of guilt.
Why it matters
Pakistan Post is one of the government’s largest employers and has been losing money for years. Jobs there are sought after in small towns, which is exactly why hiring outside the rules hurts: it shuts out candidates who applied on merit and adds salaries and pensions the taxpayer pays for decades.
The next date to watch is 10 November, when NAB expects Mahmood in Rawalpindi.
