ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday removed his press secretary Zahid Bashir for misusing authority after it was established that he tried to ‘mediate’ between the chief justice and a journalist who insisted on going ahead with his report about allegedly illegal increase in the marks of the former’s daughter.

An official handout issued here said: “The Prime Minister has removed his Press Secretary, Mr Zahid Bashir, because he went to call on the chief justice of the Supreme Court without the prime minister’s permission”.

The report which appeared in Monday’s newspaper suggested that Mr Bashir had arranged the meeting between the chief justice and the reporter in effort to stop the publication of the report. The report said that Mr Bashir not only pressed the reporter not to file the report but also offered him some ‘inside stories’ as an ‘incentive’.