Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed said on Saturday that he was not in favour of lodging a treason case (Article 6) against Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Fazlur Rehman for an attempt to “topple” the government during Azadi March last year.
In his talk to the media, the minister warned the JUI-F chief of consequences this time if he tried to (hold sit-in) in Islamabad. “This time, [the government] will behave differently with the marchers,” he said
He also hinted at selling the Pakistan Railways Karachi land to overcome its deficit. He said that Supreme Court in its last hearing in railway losses case had given go-ahead to the ministry for selling Karachi land in order to overcome its deficit. “Apex court has allowed Pakistan Railways to sell its land to overcome deficits. We are right now considering to sell the Karachi property. If we become successful in that task, the railways’ deficit will end in one year,” claimed Rasheed.
The federal minister further stated that that he would meet Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to discuss the issue of clearing the tracks of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) from encroachments.
About terms with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concerning possible hike in electricity tariffs, the minister revealed that the government would not accept such demand from the global moneylender. He affirmed that the premier has been striving to work out issues of the country.
He went on to say that inflation is the biggest enemy of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, adding that the incumbent govt was taking measures to overcome inflation and economic crisis.
“Those who are behind the inflation and hike in flour, sugar prices will be held accountable at any cost,” he said. Jahangir Tareen, Khusro Bakhtiar not involved in the sugar, flour prices hike as per the inquiry report,” added Railways minister.
He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shehbaz Sharif will arrive in Pakistan at the end of March. The Railways minister once again rejected reports of Maryam Nawaz’s London travel. “Maryam is not going anywhere and Nawaz is not coming back to Pakistan”.
Rasheed also said that Chaudhry Nisar, who is in London nowadays, didn’t hold any meeting with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
