RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Railways Shiekh Rashid Ahmed said on Friday that the government would bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to the country and, to achieve this goal, approach courts to get him declared an absconder.

“The opposition leaders will have to face their corruption cases in accountability courts as Prime Minister Imran Khan will not give NRO to anyone,” he said while talking to journalists after inaugurating Government Postgraduate College for Women on Railway Station Road in Rawalpindi.

Mr Ahmed said that the opposition would not launch any movement against the government as all its leaders were facing corruption charges. “Maulana Fazlur Rehman wanted to have a written agreement with other opposition parties that they would not leave him alone if a movement was launched,” he said. “I informed Maulana Fazl that these parties would not become part of any movement.”

Says Maryam is creating problems for Shahbaz’s politics

Commenting on the recent clash between police and PML-N workers outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office in Lahore, the minister said: “Stone pelting was not for NAB or police but on the politics of Shahbaz Sharif.”

He said that after creating problems for Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz was trapping Shahbaz Sharif. “He (Shahbaz Sharif) arranged his cards but Maryam Nawaz threw stone at his moves,” he said. He said Punjab Chief Minster Usman Buzdar would remain in place as the province’s chief executive and nothing would happen to him.

Responding to a question, he said the PTI government would complete its five-year term. He said the government was aware of inflation and unemployment and working to overcome these crises.

“To control the price hike of essential food items, the government has imported wheat and will also import sugar soon. All the conspiracies of mafias against the government will be foiled,” he said.

Mr Ahmed said solid steps were being taken to resolve basic issues like supply of clean drinking water and provision of standard education and improved healthcare facilities for which maximum resources were being utilised.

He said the PTI government was committed to improving the education system and extending the network of schools, colleges and other educational institutes. He said that the federal and provincial governments were working to establish more educational institutions in Rawalpindi.

Mr Ahmed said that he had ensured establishment of a number of schools, colleges and universities, particularly for middle class and women, in Rawalpindi. He announced that efforts would be made for the upgrade of Government Viqar-un-Nisa Postgraduate College to the status of university and it would be third women university in Rawalpindi. “Though it is difficult to establish another women’s university in Rawalpindi, I have started work on the new university,” he added.

He said that daughters of Rawalpindi were excellent in education and nobody could defeat them in this field.

He said that Prime Minister Khan and Chief Minister Buzdar were showing keen interest in bringing about a change in the education sector. He expressed the hope that Rawalpindi city would have a state-of-the-art “railway university” which would be the biggest university of its kind in the subcontinent.

The minister said the Main Line-1 (ML-1) project would reduce the traveling time between Rawalpindi and Karachi and generate job opportunities for 150,000 people. He said the Leh Expressway project would also be launched in Rawalpindi and Rawalpindi-Islamabad circular rail would also be launched on this route to facilitate the people of twin cities.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2020