KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA-elect, who defeated the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan’s (MQM-P) candidate in its Azizabad, Karachi, stronghold, is an ‘absconder’ in a 20-year-old smuggling case, court documents show.
Mohammed Aslam Khan claimed 75,702 votes to win NA-254 Karachi Central-II, where MQM has its headquarters. The party has dominated the city for the past three decades.
The MQM-P’s Shaikh Salahuddin was runner-up with 48,813 votes in the July 25 elections.
However, court documents show that 20 years ago Khan absconded after being accused in a smuggling case in which two of his accomplices were convicted.
The special court of customs and taxation in Karachi tried Mohammed Azam and Hameeduddin, two of Khan’s accomplices, in December 1998.
According to the court order seen by Arab News, Khan had absconded when the judge Mohammed Sadiq Leghari handed down the judgment against his accomplices.
Khan faced charges of smuggling electronic goods worth 28.57 million rupees ($226,000), the official document said.
Firdous Shamim Naqvi, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi chief, dismissed the allegations and said that Khan had not been convicted.
“He has already submitted a statement that he has not been convicted in any case. There is no conviction against this man,” Naqvi told Arab News.
He said that Khan was “a man of really good repute.”
“He had been holding a famous food festival in Karachi’s Frere Hall for the past five years. They government has been dealing with him, many companies have been dealing with him,” Naqvi said. “He is no criminal.”
PTI’s MNA-elect ‘absconded’ in smuggling case, documents claim
PTI’s MNA-elect ‘absconded’ in smuggling case, documents claim
- Muhammad Aslam Khan is accused in a smuggling case, which doesn’t disqualify him from contesting elections, PTI Karachi chief says
- Aslam Khan was to smuggled electronic goods into Pakistan about twenty years ago
IMF hails Pakistan privatization drive, calls PIA sale a ‘milestone’
- Fund backs sale of national airline as key step in divesting loss-making state firms
- IMF has long urged Islamabad to reduce fiscal burden posed by state-owned entities
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday welcomed Pakistan’s privatization efforts, describing the sale of the country’s national airline to a private consortium last month as a milestone that could help advance the divestment of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The comments follow the government’s sale of a 75 percent stake in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to a consortium led by the Arif Habib Group for Rs 135 billion ($486 million) after several rounds of bidding in a competitive process, marking Islamabad’s second attempt to privatize the carrier after a failed effort a year earlier.
Between the two privatization attempts, PIA resumed flight operations to several international destinations after aviation authorities in the European Union and Britain lifted restrictions nearly five years after the airline was grounded following a deadly Airbus A320 crash in Karachi in 2020 that killed 97 people.
“We welcome the authorities’ privatization efforts and the completion of the PIA privatization process, which was a commitment under the EFF,” Mahir Binici, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan, said in response to an Arab News query, referring to the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility.
“This privatization represents a milestone within the authorities’ reform agenda, aimed at decreasing governmental involvement in commercial sectors and attracting investments to promote economic growth in Pakistan,” he added.
The IMF has long urged Islamabad to reduce the fiscal burden posed by loss-making state firms, which have weighed public finances for years and required repeated government bailouts. Beyond PIA, the government has signaled plans to restructure or sell stakes in additional SOEs as part of broader reforms under the IMF program.
Privatization also remains politically sensitive in Pakistan, with critics warning of job losses and concerns over national assets, while supporters argue private sector management could improve efficiency and service delivery in chronically underperforming entities.
Pakistan’s Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises said on Friday that SOEs recorded a net loss of Rs 122.9 billion ($442 million) in the 2024–25 fiscal year, compared with a net loss of Rs 30.6 billion ($110 million) in the previous year.
