More detail are coming in regarding Khawaja Asif’s job in Abu Dhabi. According to documents obtained from UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif receives a total of 50,000 AED salary per month from a company called, “INT. MECH & ELEC CO LLC”.
The contract was renewed as recent as 8th Jun of 2017.
According to the contract, Mr. Asif receives 35,000 fixed plus 15,000 other allowances, making it a total of 50,000 AED per month. With today’s currency conversion rate, Mr. Asif receives a total of 1.43 million Pakistani rupees per month from the Abu Dhabi based company while also holding two ministries in Pakistan, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Water & Power.
Khawaja Asif maintains that he declared his Iqama and Abu Dhabi earnings on his annual tax returns as well as his nomination papers before Election Commission of Pakistan. Prime Minisiter Nawaz Sharif made a similar claim of already disclosing his Dubai Iqama after the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) disclosed that he worked for a private company in Dubai.
Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of Planning and Development, however tried to justify his Saudi Arabian Iqama by giving it a religious justification. He said he obtained a Saudi Iqama because once a Muslim goes to Madinah, he wants to maintain resident status of the sacred city for as long as one can.
PTI Spokesman Fawad Chaudhry rebutted the claims made by the three leaders of PMLN saying that they did not declare their resident and employment status with authorities in Pakistan. “How can a Prime Minister, a Defense Minister, and a Planning and Development Minister of Pakistan work as low-grade workers for private companies in foreign countries”, he wondered.
Many legal expert opine that the news of PMLN leaders holding Iqamas of Dubai and Saudi Arabia is shocking to everyone. Had they openly declared it, everyone would have known about it, said many experts.
Sheikh Rasheed, Awami Muslim League Chairman, said had he known they held Iqamas and were working for private companies, he would have made their life a hell every day.