Indictment of Zardari, Talpur: Sh Rasheed says he had forecast action by Dec

KARACHI: The Railways Minister, Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad, has said that he had already indicated that by December, widespread action would be taken against ‘such elements’.

The federal minister was responding to questions regarding indictment of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur by the accountability court earlier in the day at a press conference on Monday.

Regarding Nawaz , he said that former prime minister had done away with the legal options available to him to return to Pakistan. He alleged that Sharif had was projecting the Indian narrative against the Pakistan Army. “He (Nawaz Sharif) used to say that he is not against Imran Khan as his fight is against someone else,” he said. “I fail to understand as how come it is possible that people who were patronized by Gen Ziaul Haq have turned against the army,” he said.

Reacting to PPP chairman’s statement that he would not attend any briefing where Shaikh Rasheed was also present, the railways minister said that he was not aware of the reason the PPP chairman was so afraid of him, but the chairman of Pakistan People’s Party should be mindful of his status as an MNA. “I’m of the view that Bilawal Bhutto has the potential to play a positive role in the politics of Pakistan,” he said. “There is no more mischief in any of my statements,” he emphasised

Sheikh Rasheed said that he would hold public meetings at the same place wherever the opposition holds public gatherings after their All Parties’ Conference. “The time is over now when presence of merely 5,000 people in public meetings was exaggerated to project attendance of up to 50,000 people,” he said. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is steadfast as he (the PM) had resolved to bring to justice the corrupt politicians in view of the constitution and law.

He said that soon all encroachments would be removed from the railways land and added that the maps of the railway lands pertaining to the British colonial era would be released in the next 15 days to show encroachments over the federal land. He said the KCR project would be revived in collaboration with the Sindh chief minister. “If in case he (the CM) is interested in running the KCR, then we will hand it over to him,” he said.