HYDERABAD, Oct 24: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday that Ms Benazir Bhutto should stop dreaming of becoming prime minister for the third time because the constitutional bar in this regard and Article 58(2)b would never be removed.

Speaking to journalists at Hyderabad railway station after attending a farewell reception given in his honour by railways employees, Mr Rashid said that the issue of becoming prime minister for the third time never came up during her talks with Gen Pervez Musharraf.

They only talked on withdrawal of cases, the reason ruling Pakistan Muslim League accepted the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), he said adding that a summary in this regard had been moved and cases would soon be withdrawn.

He believed that PML-Q would form the next government after forthcoming general elections and urged the political parties to work for the national reconciliation or risk making even the election of a naib nazim in Cheechu ki Maliya (a small town in Punjab) controversial.

Mr Rashid urged Benazir Bhutto and leaders of Punjab to stop issuing irresponsible statements otherwise the ordinance (NRO) would vanish into thin air. If ruling PML and PPP fought with each other then people would have to forget about NRO, he said.

He had been informing people of correct situation since the day one and when he had first talked about national reconciliation he had to face criticism, he remarked.

Political parties had been agitating against Pervez Musharraf on the streets and roads but the time soon came Benazir Bhutto and Gen Musharraf found unanimity in their views, he said.

He said that the people who did not tire of talking about the poor and had allegedly gobbled up Rs90 billion public money presented Edhi 140 coffins on Oct 18 on their return. “If each heir of the deceased receives Rs10 million then he or she will understand how much Benazir Bhutto’s sympathised with them,” he said.

The federal minister said earlier while addressing railway employees that out of 9,000 kilometre long track laid by the then English rulers 100 years ago only 8,000 km track existed today while Chakwal-Kohat route had no rails.

Karachi-Lahore railway section would soon have dual carriages, he said and added that he had regularised jobs of all the employees who had been serving for last three years and promoted labourers to the next cadre.

He said he believed that the time he spent in information department serving rulers had been wasted while in railways he had truly served workers and now when he was leaving after determining the department’s direction

Mr Rashid said that around 90 million people travelled by trains and its income had increased by Rs3 million whereas it had earned a profit of Rs3 billion last year.

He said that workers did not know how arduous task it was to get a raise in their pay-scale approved because in Islamabad evasion of custom duty or tax by an investor was a non-issue but it caused an earthquake if someone raised voice for workers or teachers.