PTI confused about military courts: Saad

LAHORE
Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has said the PTI seems confused and split over the military courts as despite supporting them in APC, Hamid Khan’s act of moving a court over the issue depicts visible dichotomy.
Addressing the media at the inauguration ceremony of ten new power vans at the Lahore Railway Station, the minister said the nation was united in dismissing terrorism through the most speedy and effective way to expedite justice, but the PTI was bent of polarising the nation over the issue. He said the PTI was a significant political party and such inconsistence in stance did not suit it.
Talking about the railways, the minister reassured that the government was not considering any plan to privatise the railways.
He said some passenger trains were making profit and some were in debt, but none of them would be shut. He said he and his team were working day and night to make sure that the financial viability of the national institution be revived. He said it would not be wrong to say that they had achieved the milestone task of turning the railways around.
He said he was especially focused on enhancing the freight operations and by June 30 a record increase would be noticed in the earnings from freight operations. Currently PR has the capacity of operating 8-10 freight trains daily, he mentioned.
He said total addition to the power vans was 20 out of which ten had been completed and inaugurated. PR is planning ahead of time and is expected to build enough resources to facilitate the passengers in summers when power vans are of crucial importance, he said.
Khawaja Saad Rafique said the 124 passenger coaches would be refurbished within minimum possible time to improve the service level. He said due to decrease in oil price, PR was going to keep a 20-day reserve stock of fuel instead of 17 days to avoid any circumstantial fuel shortage.
He promised that the salaries of Pakistan Railways Police would be increased in the next budget.