Cheema is the parrot holding Shahbaz’ life

ISLAMABAD: Tossing barbs at the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday said his life lay in the parrot of Hudaibya.

Speaking at a media conference here, 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 that during the last nine years, Shahbaz had spent Rs9,000 billion (Rs9 trillion) and this was such a huge amount that if notes were spread across the Lahore-Karachi Motorway, yet the currency would be surplus.

He claimed that Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital had been built in Peshawar at the cost of just Rs4 billion, involving foreign architects.

He said Sharifs were always after mega projects for mega corruption. Referring to Cheema, he charged that the former head of Lahore Development Authority was Shahbaz’s front man and he 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 had been given plots worth billions.

Imran wondered if Ahad Cheema was Nelson Mandela that some bureaucrats had written a letter that they would not work if Cheema was not freed, who had been arrested in connection with Rs14 billion Ashiyana Housing Scheme.

He mentioned ex-chairman NAB Qamar Zaman, Saeed Ahmad and Zafar Hijazi, alleging that they tried to cover up Chaudhry sugar mills and Hudaibiya papers mills inquiry, while Saeed Ahmad, according to Ishaq Dar’s confessional statement, used to do money laundering for Sharifs.

He alleged that Zahid Saeed, Sibtain, Fazal Aleem Qamar Rasool, Imdad Bossal, Muhammad Usman and Nabil Awan were 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 was at the top of list of countries where most of kids less than five years of age die.

Imran claimed that there was fear and apprehension of Cheema’s arrest, as they feared if he spilled the beans Shahbaz and his son Hamza would be trapped and Khawaja Saad Rafique of Paragon city as well.

He called for carrying out an investigation into all metro projects. He said Multan metro project was of Rs30 billion but no bus was commuting there, whereas the annual loss of Lahore metro was Rs2.5 billion.

“All these projects were for minting money and when details of orange train project were sought, they were told that it was a secret. How a contract can be secret with the tax-payers’ money,” Imran asked.

Regarding the bureaucracy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Imran claimed that he had made it very clear to bureaucrats that they were public servants and that he never sought 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 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.