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ISLAMABAD: A long-time PPP jiyala who was known for schmoozing with the right crowd, Mian Khurram Rasool is quite alone right now. But Mr Rasool has himself to blame for the situation he is in: he blatantly defrauded a businessman of millions of rupees for a Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) contract that never transpired and then also went around town claiming to be the media coordinator for the prime minister, a charge the Secretariat now vehemently denies.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court while hearing a petition against him accusing that he took bribes totalling Rs630 million for an LPG contract from Parvez Hussain, a businessman who deals in Afghan carpets. Mr Rasool had told the businessman that he will get two of Mr Hussain’s companies – Sahara Gas (pvt) Limited and Pak Delta Enterprises (Pvt) Limited – a quota for LPG and a licence for export of oil to Nato forces in Afghanistan.
The apex court has ordered the Interior Division to arrest and produce Mr Rasool for the next hearing on Jan 27.
The Prime Minister’s Secretariat, meanwhile, has issued a press release saying that Mr Rasool never served as the media coordinator to Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and instead was media coordinator Northern Pakistan, Pakistan Television Corporation Limited.
The press release further stated that when the premier came to know that Mr Rasool was defrauding people by posing himself as the media coordinator to the prime minister, he had directed the Interior Division to conduct an inquiry against the said person through Federal Investigation Agency and proceed against him in accordance with the law. The press release asked the media not to refer him as the media coordinator of the prime minister.
This distancing is a far cry from Mr Rasool’s his heydays in the party. Even now he manages to draw mixed reviews: local party leaders who have known him since the 1990s still share kind words, others say he worked his way up due to his close association with the prime minister despite his reputation.
Atif Kiyani, currently working as director general of the Federal Directorate of Education and a leading PPP worker, said that Mr Rasool was respected by many in the party for his bluntness and for being an active member. “Khurram had lived here in New Katariyan, Rawalpindi, for many years and we were close friends since we were in the same party. He has been part of PPP local politics since 1990s,” said Mr Kiyani. “During the local Rawal Town Nazim elections he lost by a margin of 38 votes to Sheikh Shafique, nephew of Shiekh Rashid,” he added.
Other party workers on the request of anonymity claimed that he rubbed shoulders with prime minister and that was how he made his way up. “He looked after the Prime Minister when he had been locked up in Adiala Jail. The premier has also mentioned his name in his book,” one activist said.
Others say that he always had a slew of cases against him for swindling people. “Before the Feb 2008 elections Mr Rasool was not in Pakistan since he was an accused in different banking related cases. Mr Rasool came back to Pakistan soon after PPP’s election win. Before that he ran a gas station and had a printing related business venture,” said a PPP worker on the request of anonymity.
“We had seen him close to the Prime Minister. He had been with Mr Gilani when the latter was in Adiala Jail for misuse of power as speaker National Assembly,” added another activist.
Given this history, it seems strange that the Secretariat is giving him a cold shoulder. The question thus still hangs in the air: if Mr Rasool did not have any links with the prime minister, how come he had a room close to the Cabinet Secretary’s office at the Secretariat?
