ISLAMABAD: Tossing barbs at the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said his life lay in the parrot of Hudaibya.
Speaking at a media conference, Imran alleged that Fawad Hasan Fawad and Ahad Cheema were Sharifs’ front men who controlled bureaucracy for their bosses. He further alleged that Sharifs wanted to give third extension to the IB chief Aftab Sultan, who was selecting candidates for the PML-N.
Imran claimed during the last nine years, Shahbaz had spent Rs9,000 billion (Rs9 trillion) whereas Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital was built in Peshawar at a cost of just Rs4 billion, involving foreign architects.
He said Sharifs always promoted mega projects for mega corruption. Referring to Cheema, he charged the former head of Lahore Development Authority to be Shahbaz’s front man who not only looked after Lahore, but also Sheikhupura, Kasur and Nankana Sahib. "Ahad Cheema is such a genius that he got contracts for the LDA, metro bus, Ashiyana Housing Scheme and Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project," Imran said. He alleged that Cheema has been given plots worth billions.
Imran wondered if Ahad Cheema was Nelson Mandela that some bureaucrats have written letters that they would not work if Cheema was not freed who has been arrested in connection with Rs14 billion corruption in the Ashiyana Housing Scheme.
He mentioned ex-chairman NAB Qamar Zaman, Saeed Ahmad and Zafar Hijazi tried to cover up the inquiry into the corruption in Chaudhry sugar mills and Hudaibiya papers mills, while Saeed Ahmad, according to Ishaq Dar’s confessional statement, used to do money laundering for the Sharifs. He alleged that Zahid Saeed, Sibtain, Fazal Aleem Qamar Rasool, Imdad Bossal, Muhammad Usman and Nabil Awan were all Shahbaz’s men.
He lamented that instead of serving the state, they served the Sharifs and hence the DMG had become DMG-Raiwind. Imran saw a nexus between the Sharifs and bureaucracy. He regretted that Pakistan is at the top of the list of countries where most of the children die before their fifth birthday.
Imran claimed that the Sharif's were apprehensive of Cheema’s arrest, as they feared Shahbaz and Hamza would be trapped if he spilled the beans. Imran also charged that Khawaja Saad Rafique of Paragon city would not survive the fallout of Cheema's invetigations.
He called for carrying out an investigation into all the metro projects. He said the cost of Multan metro project was Rs30 billion but no bus was commuting there, whereas the annual loss of Lahore metro lies at Rs2.5 billion. “All these projects were raised for minting money and when details of the Orange Train Project were sought, they were told that it is a secret. How could a contract built with the tax-payers’ money be secret,” Imran asked.
Regarding the bureaucracy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Imran claimed that he had made it very clear to the bureaucrats that they are public servants and that he would never seek any favour from them. Imran mentioned a report compiled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which stated that the leaders of the Third World countries like Pakistan earn kickbacks through mega projects.
About the police reforms in the KP, he said both former and serving IGs had declared that the provincial government never pressured them. Comparing it to Sindh, he said AD Khawaja was considered as a bone of contention, as he speaks against corruption in the province.
Defending the much-discussed funding to Darul Uloom Haqqania of Maulana Samiul Haq by the KP government, he said 2.5 million students go to seminaries as their parents could not afford private schools. “Haqqania has a network of madrassas, we are trying to bring their students into the mainstream. Are those 2.5 million kids not ours?” he asked.
He alleged the SECP was trying to cover up corruption while a similar institution in China had unearthed corruption in the Multan Metro project. It was found that a company, Capital Engineering, was not registered with the SECP but had sent money to China.
“The company existed on papers and Faisal Subhan was its CEO. When he was probed, he disclosed that the company had four share-holders controlled by the Sharif family and that they had made payments through an offshore firm,” he noted.
Imran urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the fact that Faisal had gone missing. “If it is not a mafia, then what else is it? Will he be killed by people like Abid Boxer. They have got killed 137 people in Kasur. Two kids in Sabzazaar and Shahbaz himself would ordered such killings,” he alleged.
Asked would the head of KP Ehtesab Commission, be able to work freely being the brother of a provincial minister, Imran said the issue was between the DG commission and its officers adding they had modified the law to strengthen the commission and urged the Peshawar High Court chief justice to appoint its head.