Where APC and opposition have gone, asks Sheikh Rashid

LAHORE: Minister for Pakistan Railways Sheikh Rashid has said corruption is a serious crime and anyone involved in it should not be spared.

Talking to the media at Railways headquarters, he said none of ministers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was involved in corruption. “If the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summons someone, it does not mean that the person should be removed from office. I had predicted earlier that the NAB will summon politicians from both sides after Eid,” he added.

He said Imran Khan would never be summoned by the NAB as he was been given a certificate of Sadiq and Ameen by the Supreme Court. Talking about ML-1, the minister said the project, which has been declared a “strategical project” by China, would be Asia’s first with an automatic signal system. He expressed his desire for the inauguration of the ML-1 project by the Chinese President and added that the project would immensely benefit the economy. “I will request Imran Khan to invite the Chinese President on the foundation day of the project. “Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and PM Imran talked to China for the ML-1 project in every meeting,” he added.

He said that it would be a crossing-free track, which would reduce the travel time from Karachi to Lahore to seven hours, while it would take two hours from Rawalpindi to Lahore. “ML-1 will enable trains to run at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour, which can be further extended to 200 kilometers per hour. It is a revolutionary project to be completed by the PTI government and it will revamp the entire structure of Pakistan Railways,” he said. The minister also announced that Pakistan Railways would start operating 10 more trains from August 16. He reiterated that the politics of Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif families had ended. “Where an all parties conference (APC) and the Opposition have gone,” he questioned.