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I wasnt fired, I quit weeks ago: Dr Asim
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=192149
Sunday, August 09, 2009
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Dr Asim Hussain, who on Saturday quit as Adviser on Petroleum after appointment of the petroleum minister in his place, says he had requested President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani eight weeks back to relieve him of the charge, as he wanted to give time to his hospital in Karachi.
It is wrong and misplaced, he told The News when told that the general impression created by sudden handing over of his portfolio to Privatisation Minister Navid Qamar by Prime Minister Gilani was that he had been shown the door rather unceremoniously.
Dr Asim said that when he had talked to the president and the prime minister about relieving him of the cabinet responsibilities, both had asked him to continue. I told them that I wanted to be out after a series of roadshows I have organised in foreign countries are over, he said. He said that he was back after holding the shows in the United States and Canada on Wednesday. He went abroad on July 22.
I want to go back to Karachi to give maximum time to my hospital that has suffered a lot because of my absence, he insisted.
Dr Asim, who was also simultaneously chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), said he had also told President Zardari and PM Gilani that he would not like to be in this office as well because there was not much work to do in this office, especially when it was likely to be wound up anyway.
People like me are not politicians, we are management people and take decisions because of this skill, he said hinting at problems and pressure that he faced, which the political government did exert to oblige different people.
He must be happy, Dr Asim said when asked whether an extremely powerful gas tycoon, who was equally influential during all successive governments of the last one decade and a half, had anything to do with his exit. As he was unhappy with my decisions, he would be happy over my exit.
Dr. Asim said that when there was continuing gross depletion of gas in the existing Pakistani fields, two options were left -- either to sit back and live with the shortage or take tangible steps to import it in order to meet the deficiency. Still, every measure has to be taken to ensure the best price but the imported gas will certainly be somewhat costlier.
A few months after becoming the adviser, Dr Asim cancelled a $55 million consultancy contract given to a joint venture of German firm and a Pakistani company for the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project. Recently, the FO wrote a note to the Petroleum Ministry seeking the restoration of the contract. Dr. Asim was appointed adviser due to his old closeness with President Zardari. At times, the prime minister believed that he bypassed him in certain policy decisions and made policy statements, which was the real cause for his removal, said an official.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=192149
Sunday, August 09, 2009
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Dr Asim Hussain, who on Saturday quit as Adviser on Petroleum after appointment of the petroleum minister in his place, says he had requested President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani eight weeks back to relieve him of the charge, as he wanted to give time to his hospital in Karachi.
It is wrong and misplaced, he told The News when told that the general impression created by sudden handing over of his portfolio to Privatisation Minister Navid Qamar by Prime Minister Gilani was that he had been shown the door rather unceremoniously.
Dr Asim said that when he had talked to the president and the prime minister about relieving him of the cabinet responsibilities, both had asked him to continue. I told them that I wanted to be out after a series of roadshows I have organised in foreign countries are over, he said. He said that he was back after holding the shows in the United States and Canada on Wednesday. He went abroad on July 22.
I want to go back to Karachi to give maximum time to my hospital that has suffered a lot because of my absence, he insisted.
Dr Asim, who was also simultaneously chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), said he had also told President Zardari and PM Gilani that he would not like to be in this office as well because there was not much work to do in this office, especially when it was likely to be wound up anyway.
People like me are not politicians, we are management people and take decisions because of this skill, he said hinting at problems and pressure that he faced, which the political government did exert to oblige different people.
He must be happy, Dr Asim said when asked whether an extremely powerful gas tycoon, who was equally influential during all successive governments of the last one decade and a half, had anything to do with his exit. As he was unhappy with my decisions, he would be happy over my exit.
Dr. Asim said that when there was continuing gross depletion of gas in the existing Pakistani fields, two options were left -- either to sit back and live with the shortage or take tangible steps to import it in order to meet the deficiency. Still, every measure has to be taken to ensure the best price but the imported gas will certainly be somewhat costlier.
A few months after becoming the adviser, Dr Asim cancelled a $55 million consultancy contract given to a joint venture of German firm and a Pakistani company for the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project. Recently, the FO wrote a note to the Petroleum Ministry seeking the restoration of the contract. Dr. Asim was appointed adviser due to his old closeness with President Zardari. At times, the prime minister believed that he bypassed him in certain policy decisions and made policy statements, which was the real cause for his removal, said an official.
