Sheikh Rasheed for bringing plunderers to book

KARACHI: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Monday said that all those who had plundered the country and shifted their wealth abroad, will be brought to book. He said this in a press conference at his camp office here.

Rasheed said that the corrupt elements are responsible for the inflation in the country and they will be held accountable in accordance with the law and Constitution ofPakistan. Speaking about the All Parties Conference (APC) by the opposition parties, he said that three to four parties that had plundered the country are part of this group and now their sole agenda is to create hurdles for the ruling party to stop it from getting majority seats in the next Senate election. These corrupt politicians are raw material of jails and 10 more cases would also be unearthed before the public and they will land in jails, he said.

Sheikh Rasheed said that the present government and the Pakistan Army are on the same page. To a question, he said that six passenger trains have been given to private contractors and 17 more trains would also be handed over to private operators. He said that as many as 500 freight trains would also be privatised. He said that he wanted to shift half of the headquarters of Pakistan Railways from Lahore to Karachi. He said that around 90 percent of Pakistani and 10 per cent Chinese nationals would get jobs in the Main Line 1 project (ML1), while the salaries will be paid by China.

Speaking about charges framing by the accountability court against PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in the money laundering case, he said that those who plundered the wealth of the country, will be punished.

Earlier, Rasheed leveled the allegation that the opposition wanted to sabotage the upcoming Senate elections. Addressing to a press conference in Karachi, he claimed that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has not answered his 10 questions, adding that Nawaz has decided to spend the rest of his life in London and adding the PML-N leader should give respect to the Chief Justice instead of vote. He also alleged that Nawaz Sharif was behind the Dawn Leaks. –Agencies

Jang reporter adds: Rasheed made a written press conference for the first time. He became angry when a journalist asked him that he was making a written press conference and from where he got this press release and who asked him to hold the press conference.

Rasheed replied to the journalist that he does not hold press conferences on anybody’s directions and he is not a spokesman of anybody. Earlier, the railways minister said that he was facing the issue of memory after recovering from coronavirus and therefore he had prepared his speech in the written form as he had to answer each and every allegation levelled by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz.