Saad wants NAB dissolved

LAHORE: Federal Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique called for dissolution of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at a press conference held at the Railway Headquarters on Friday. He said the NAB should be stopped from working, but the government must provide job protection to its employees. He said that established during the tenure of military dictator Pervez Musharraf, the anti-corruption body has long been accused of being a tool for political victimization of opponents. The majority of politicians from the incumbent ruling alliance claim that one-sided accountability has been the hallmark of the NAB.

Saad rejected Imran Khan’s narrative, saying that the former prime minister is himself responsible for his government’s ouster and not the United States. He said Imran is stubborn and rude and wasn’t even ready to shake hands with his allies in three and a half years. His own party men and allies left him due to his bad nature. Saad said his party would not remain silent on Imran’s onslaught and would politically respond to it. “We cannot tolerate it that you [Imran Khan] call us traitors and we remain silent,” he stated.

He accused the PTI government of doing nothing to bring any improvement in railways working in three and a half years. The PTI government did not take a single step on the Main Line-1

project, he claimed. Terming the project backbone for the railways progress, the minister said the project could no longer be left dormant. He said the Pakistan Railways would re-approach contractors (Chinese companies) for negotiations on the ML-1 project and hopefully succeed in getting them back soon. He said he has issued directions to restart work on the Sibi-Harnai track. He would re-evaluate the e-ticketing project launched by the PTI government. He said the Pakistan Railways would continue outsourcing trains in a transparent manner. All railway employees posted to key positions during the PTI rule will continue working without any disturbance. Train fares would be reduced by 30 per cent to facilitate passengers and pensions and salaries would be paid early.