Ex-petroleum minister Dr Asim held in Karachi

According to the sources, NAB officials arrived at Hussain’s office in Karachi’s upscale Clifton area where they questioned him for about an hour.

Authorities arrested a prominent opposition politician close to former president Asif Ali Zardari, his party said on Wednesday, the first detention of a major Pakistan People’s Party figure in an ongoing military-driven crackdown in the port city of Karachi.

Currently, he is working as the Chairman of Higher Commission of Pakistan in Sindh.

Asim Hussain, a former federal minister and the Chairman of the provincial Higher Education Commission (HEC), was picked up from his office and taken to an unknown location by the plain-clothed intelligence officials.

Hussain was recently out of the country and had returned to Karachi only a few days ago.

Dr Asim Hussain was chairing a meeting of the search committee for vice chancellors which was also attended by other high-ranking officials of the HEC.

Responding to rumours, a spokesperson of the National Accountability Bureau Karachi had earlier said Dr Asim Hussain had not been detained by personnel from the anti-corruption watchdog.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Islamabad, PPP senior leader Khursheed Shah condemned what he described as Dr Hussain’s “arrest for questioning”.