Former Pakistani minister found dead

Police have not ruled out foul play

By Zaffar Abbas BBC correspondent in Islamabad

A former Pakistani cabinet minister has been found hanging from a ceiling fan in what police are treating as a case of suicide.

Khan was active in social work

But they are not ruling out the possibility that former labour and environment minister, Omar Asghar Khan, was murdered.

Police say he was found in his bedroom at a family house in Karachi, where his family said he went two days ago for some political meetings.

The family said in a statement that a suicide note had been found, but did not reveal its contents.

Mr Khan resigned from the cabinet earlier this year to form a political party to take part in elections due in October.

Rising star

The family statement said that when he did not emerge from his bedroom, someone broke into the room and found him dead.

Mr Khan was perhaps the youngest and one of the brightest members of President Musharraf's cabinet.

Before joining the military-run government he was active in social work.

His non-governmental organisation had worked for the rights of women in a highly conservative region of North West Frontier Province.

Son of a former chief of the Pakistan Air Force, Mr Khan also had a brief stint in the army before he turned towards teaching and later to politics.