LAHORE                  -            Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman would be made a ‘state guest’ this time if he tried to march towards Islamabad.

Addressing a press conference at Railways Headquarters on Saturday, he made it clear that the JUI-F chief would be put behind the bars if he tried another Azadi March. He, however, opposed trying Maulana under Article 6 for ‘hatching conspiracy’ against the elected government.

“Maryam is not going anywhere and Nawaz is not coming back to Pakistan,” the Railways Minister said, adding, Shehbaz Sharif would return from London by the end of March. “Few politicians desired coming back in March but it should be clear that they will get different treatment this time,” he said.

To a question about possibilities of NAB arresting PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, he said that it would not happen. He said that both the PPP and the PTI were to bring necessary changes in NAB laws.

He reiterated that no political party but inflation was the real enemy of the PTI.

Acknowledging the measures to overcome economic crises and inflation, he said that those responsible for flour and sugar crises would be held accountable. “It will take time to restore economy as plundered money was too huge”, he said.

Dispelling the impression of involvement of PTI stalwart Jahangir Tareen and Khusro Bakhtiar in sugar and flour crises, he said that there was no mention of these people in the inquiry report.

To a question, he denied report of any meeting of Army Chief with Shehbaz Sharif in London. He said that Ch Nisar had also not met with Nawaz Sharif.

Sheikh Rasheed said that Supreme Court had given go-ahead for selling Karachi land for overcoming Railways deficit.

“We are considering selling the Karachi property. In case of success, the deficit will be zero in one year,” he said.

Referring to the ML-1 project, he said that it would be finalized by February 28 and completed in the next five to eight years.

He said that outbreak of coronavirus in China had affected local industries.

“Number of containers from China has significantly reduced since the outbreak of coronavirus”, he said, adding, the scenario had badly affected the local industries.

Terming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit a successful one, he said the friendly countries had signed 13 different MoUs including the one relating to Pakistan Railways.