LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy, Omar Ayub Khan clarified his stance on his UAE Investor’s Iqama in an exclusive conversation with The Pakistan Daily.
According to the minister, he received an Iqama in 2016 for HFZA Orion International FZE and accepted that it was his company.
“I set up the company in 2016 but things didn’t work out. The Iqama was withdrawn in 2019 and has been declared in all my tax returns,” Omar Ayub Khan told this correspondent.
Omar Ayub Khan took the oath as a federal minister in 2018, however, when The Pakistan Daily asked him why it took a year for the Iqama to be suspended, the federal minister responded: “These things take time.”
Earlier, PPP leader Farhatullah Babar had criticised Omar Ayub Khan for holding the Iqama, saying: “Hard to believe that a sitting Minister of @ImranKhanPTI cabinet is holding a valid UAE iqama while PM goes from town to town, day in and day out against @NawazSharifMNS, Kh Asif, others for holding iqamas.”
Responding to Farhatullah Babar, Omar Ayub Khan replied: “Mr Farhatullah Babar Sb. You should have had the intellectual honesty to not cut out the visa expiry date: 25.10.2019. Co was owned by me. Declared in my Tax and ECP returns. Closed in 2019.”
Omar Ayub Khan is the grandson of Gen Ayub Khan, who served as Pakistan’s second President and led the country to a period of unprecedented prosperity.
He has held various government positions in the past and was affiliated with the PML-Q and PML-N before joining PTI.
