The authorities are learnt to have seized the overseas promoters' license of former Senator Enver Beg ostensibly in reprisal for joining Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Talking to Business Recorder on Saturday, Enver Beg termed political victimisation and said that it was the first part of President Asif Ali Zardari's revenge for joining the PML-N when he had no say in the party after Benazir Bhutto's assassination.
He said that the move had not only deprived him of his decades-old family business but also deprived the livelihoods of 200 labourers who were scheduled to leave for Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Beg's family has been running Jan Mohammad and Sons, a well-reputed travel agency, since 1943. It also used to send labour force abroad, helping the country earn foreign exchange.
According to credible sources, the directives came directly from Presidency to put Jan Mohammad and Company out of business. After getting the directives, officials of the Bureau of Immigration levelled baseless allegations against the company to mar its reputation.
Beg said that the bureau issued a show-cause notice, saying that his company's signboard was not displayed at a prominent place. The second charge was that being a politician, Enver Beg used his business premises for political goals and the third was that he was the honorary counsel of Uruguay and his office for the post was also in the premises of his recruiting agency.
According to Enver Beg, the Bureau of Immigration, initiated inspection on June 12 and the next day on June 13, it issued a show cause notice. On the same day, the bureau directed Protector of Immigration to shut down Jan Mohammad and Sons without giving any time to respond to the show-cause.
The move stunned the former senator, who as a last option approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which vacated the notices and asked him to resume his business on Monday. Baig said that he would start work on Monday and if anybody tried to stop him, he "will file a contempt of court petition against the authorities concerned. He also warned that he would expose the nefarious designs of all those who "are hell bent for political victimisation" after he joined PML-N.
"This is shameful...just look at the allegations they've levelled against my company, which has been source of livelihood to hundreds of families. They should be ashamed of whatever they are doing as their (party's) main slogan is to provide shelter, food and clothing," he regretted.
He said that being a clean person and a close aide of late Benazir Bhutto, he was being penalised "for nothing". He asked President Asif Ali Zardari to first mend his own fences and then start probes against others. He said that President Asif Ali Zardari had also been misusing the Presidency as co-chairman of the PPP and lately given shelter to the recently disqualified prime minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.