No room for protest in Islamabad: Rashid

RAWALPINDI: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Tuesday there was no room for protest in Islamabad due to growing tension on the Line of Control (LOC).

Talking to the media persons after inaugurating cooking, computer and beautification classes at Railway handicraft school, Rashid said the government was trying its best to handle the issue through talks. “However, if there was a law and order situation, the government will decide according to law to protect the life and property of the people,” he said.

The minister said the Railways would submit the PC-I of Mainline (ML-I) to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) this week. Under the ML-I, over 1800 kilometres railways track would be laid across the country at the cost of around US $9 billion, he said. With the start of ML-I, he added, the travel time from Rawalpindi to Karachi would reduce from 22 hours to 10 hours. “A train from Rawalpindi would reach Lahore in just two and a half hours”, he said.

Rashid said around 80,000 youths would get jobs under this project but added that no new application would be accepted in this regard as the ministry had already received one million applications. “Employees are the asset of Pakistan Railways and all available resources would be utilised to help facilitate them.”

He further said the past rulers were responsible for the price hike in the country because of the large scale corruption and loot and plunder of national exchequer as a result of which the masses were suffering adversely.