Former Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan has reportedly refused to take charge as Minister for Aviation as notified on Thursday. Sources said that Ghulam Sarwar has requested Prime Minister that he be allowed to continue for four months to show an improvement in the performance of his Ministry; he reportedly maintained that he was unable to bring any major improvements in the ministry due to certain unavoidable issues.
Declining to take charge of an alternate ministry, he has reportedly said that his removal will tarnish his political career in his constituency and embarrass him before his arch rival former PML-N interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. The Prime Minister had expressed immense displeasure at the inflated gas bills coupled with gas load-shedding as well as mismanagement; he held several meetings in the wake of the inflated gas bills in winter, and removed Ghulam Sarwar as head of CCOE [Cabinet Committee on Energy) on 8 February 2019 and now as Minister for Petroleum.
On April 12, 2019, an anti-corruption establishment court (ACE) acquitted Ghulam Sarwar Khan in a fake diploma case. The appointment of Nadeem Babar as special assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum concurrent to Ghulam Sarwar's dismissal from the Ministry has raised the possibility of conflict of interest. Babar was CEO of Orient Power but resigned in August 2018, though he retains 26 percent shares in the company, and was tasked to lead a task force on energy by Prime Minister Khan on 16 September 2018. Orient reportedly owes Rs 800 million to Sui Northern Gas Company (SNGPL).
Nadeem Babar was also an important member of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) Advisory Council set-up by the IPPs as a lobbying entity. He was reportedly part of the team which negotiated the release of un-audited Rs 480 billion to IPPs on the second last day of fiscal year 2012-013 during Ishaq Dar's tenure. The case was referred by National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee for investigation.
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