Imran, Trump have same nature: Rashid

LAHORE: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has claimed that a king of a country had insisted on Imran Khan letting go the incarcerated former premier Nawaz Sharif, but the prime minister refused.

Addressing a press conference at Railways Headquarters here on Saturday, he said Imran Khan categorically refused the suggestion, though he did not mention the name of the king. His (Imran Khan’s) exact words to the king were: “No way at all,” he added.

“I thought after the departure of the king, there would not be any money coming. However, the king still sent few billion dollars,” he added.

About the video scandal allegedly involving accountability court judge Arshad Malik, the minister said gone were the days of doing politics on the basis videos, adding that the video would create problems for the PML-N instead. He said Maryam Nawaz had destroyed the party. He quoted a proverb saying “A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.”

About Premier Imran Khan’s upcoming visit to the United States, She Rashid said: “I hope the meeting between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Donald Trump goes well. Both have the same nature.”

While commenting on the recent train accident near Sadiqabad, which claimed 24 lives and left many injured, the minister said it had been decided to take action against driver, assistant driver and station master immediately and added that action on other inquiries during his tenure would also be taken within a month.

Sh Rashid said there were 1,500 unmanned and 1,300 manned crossings in the entire network of Pakistan Railways, adding that carelessness of people while using these crossings caused accidents. He said new locomotives of General Electric Company had been experiencing some problems.

The minister said that in order to facilitate the people of Mianwali, a last passenger train from Lahore to Mianwali would be started from July 19. He said at present a total of 136 passenger trains and 55 freight trains were on track and added that it was railways duty to provide maximum facilities to people. He said it had been decided to introduce 1122 rescue safety project in Pakistan Railways.