Dr Asim Hussain detained in Karachi

KARACHI: Officials in civvies raided the office of former petroleum minister and incumbent Chairman of the Sindh Higher Education Commission Dr Asim Hussain on Wednesday, taking him away to an undisclosed location for questioning.
Dr Asim is considered a close aide of former president and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
Meanwhile, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sources said that Dr Asim had not been taken into custody. The interviews for vice principal Dow Medical College were under way at the Sindh Higher Education Commission when officials in plainclothes came to the office and took him along with them after a brief interrogation.
The sources said at least 11 officials, who most likely belonged to an investigative agency, arrived at the Sindh HEC office in the Clifton area where a meeting was under way. They said that Azra Pehchuho, Mazhar Siddiqui and Dr Iqbal Durrani were also present during the meeting.
The officials questioned Dr Hussain at his office for about half-an-hour before escorting him away in a white-coloured vehicle.
Dr Asim Hussain has previously served as an adviser to the prime minister on petroleum during the last PPP government. He is currently serving as the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Sindh.
Hussain was recently out of the country and returned to Karachi only a few days back.
It was unclear if Dr Hussain had formally been detained or on what charges he was being questioned as no investigative agency or law enforcement department had issued a comment on the incident.
But sources told a private TV channel that Dr Asim Hussain had been summoned by the NAB. Asim Hussain had departed the country for Dubai after getting protective bail in a case and returned to Karachi only four days ago, the sources added.
They said that a team of 11 officials from two different investigation agencies raided Hussain’s offices on Wednesday and also took away important documents with them.
Dr Asim, the owner of a university in Karachi, has been accused of corruption in the LNG and LPG deals while he indiscriminately issued licences for CNG stations. He is also accused of money laundering and land grabbing.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Islamabad, senior PPP leader and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah condemned what he described as Dr Hussain’s “arrest for questioning”.
Shah said that as per his information, Hussain had been taken away for investigation. When asked, he did not disclose who had taken him away or on what charges.
It is worth mentioning here that former home minister Sindh Dr Zulfiqar Mirza had also accused Dr Asim Hussain of corruption.
Meanwhile, a law enforcement agency carried out a raid near the offices of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and arrested its deputy managing director.
According to sources, SSGC’s Deputy Managing Director Shoaib Warsi was taken into custody from outside his office near the Civic Centre. Later, Warsi was taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation.