Haroon Akhtar Khan
Member of the Senate of Pakistan
In office
12 March 2018 – 17 October 2018
Personal details
Born1957 (age 66 years), Karachi, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
Canadian (until 2011)[1]
Political partyPakistan Muslim League (N)
Parent
RelativesHumayun Akhtar Khan (brother)
Anna Khan (daughter)

Haroon Akhtar Khan (born 1957) is a Pakistani politician who was a member of the Senate of Pakistan from March to October 2018.

Early life and education

Khan was born in 1957 in the city of Karachi to General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, the DG-ISI under General Zia-ul-Haq.

He earned his Master of Science in Actuarial Science and Business Administration from the University of Manitoba, Canada and later became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) in the United States and also a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA), at the time of his qualification being the youngest actuary in the history of the profession.[2]

Political career

In January 2018, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi appointed Khan as his special assistant on revenue and granted him the status of a federal minister.[3]

He was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) as its candidate in 2018 Pakistani Senate election.[4] However the Election Commission of Pakistan declared all PML-N candidates for the Senate election as independent after a ruling of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.[5]

Khan was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as an independent candidate on general seat from Punjab in Senate election.[6][7] He was backed in the election by PML-N[8] and joined the treasury benches, led by PML-N after getting elected.[9] He took an oath as Senator on 12 March 2018.[10]

Corruption charges

Haroon Akhtar Khan is the son of General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, who died in a plane crash which also killed the president of Pakistan at the time, General Zia-ul-Haq. In a New York Times report published during the investigation of his death,[11] Abdur Rahman, the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency, was said to have helped funnel billions of dollars in cash and other aid from the United States and other countries, to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to support their fight against the Soviet Union. The same report mentioned that a Credit Suisse account was opened in 1985, in the name of three of General Akhtar’s sons. Years later, the account would grow to hold $3.7 million, as the leaked records showed. According to the paper, two of the general's sons, Akbar Akhtar Khan, the oldest of General Rahman’s children, and Haroon, did not respond to the requests for comment on the reporting project. In a text message, Ghazi Akhtar Khan, the youngest of the Akhtar brothers, said the information about the accounts was "not correct", adding, "The content is conjectural." The claims remain unproven.

Personal life

Khan is the third of four brothers and is the younger brother of fellow businessman turned politician, Humayun Akhtar Khan. He is also the son of General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, the DG-ISI under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. His daughter, Anna Khan, resides in Palo Alto, California.

References

  1. ↑ "Haroon Akhtar denies holding dual nationality - The Express Tribune". 6 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Mr. Haroon Akhtar Khan". Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "PM Abbasi appoints Haroon Akhtar Khan as federal minister - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "List of Senate candidates from Punjab". DAWN.COM. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  5. ↑ "PML-N's Senate nominees to contest election as independent candidates, says ECP". DAWN.COM. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "LIVE: PML-N-backed independent candidates lead in Punjab, PPP in Sindh - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  7. ↑ Khan, Iftikhar A. (4 March 2018). "PML-N gains Senate control amid surprise PPP showing". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "PML-N backed candidates win 15 seats in Senate Elections". Daily Pakistan Global. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  9. ↑ Guramani, Nadir (22 March 2018). "15 independent senators backed by PML-N in Senate polls join treasury". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "Senate elect opposition-backed Sanjrani chairman and Mandviwala his deputy". The News. 12 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Jesse Drucker, Ben Hubbard (20 February 2022). "Vast Leak Exposes How Credit Suisse Served Strongmen and Spies". The New York Times. NY. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.