Islamabad, Dec 2 (PTI) Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has fired his spokesman for meeting the Chief Justice of Pakistan without his permission. Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar is at the centre of a controversy after education authorities hastily revised the marks of his daughter in a school-leaving examination so that she could gain admission to a medical college.

Gilani's Press Secretary Zahid Bashir accompanied a journalist, who first reported on the controversy, for a meeting with the Chief Justice at the latter's residence on November 21. The journalist has claimed that Dogar and Bashir had requested him not to report the matter.

Bashir was removed by Gilani "because he went to call on the Chief Justice of Supreme Court without the Prime Minister's permission", a brief official statement said. The spokesman was embroiled in a controversy in September when he mistakenly told reporters that Gilani was in his limousine when a sniper fired several shots at the Prime Minister's motorcade while it was on its way to the airport in Rawalpindi.

It later emerged that the Prime Minister was not in the car at the time and the motorcade was on its way to pick him up when it was attacked. Bashir, a former marketing director of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was appointed the premier's spokesman in July.