LAHORE - Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid says former president Asif Ali Zardari is likely to cough up money he is accused of having accumulated through corrupt practices. However, he said, he can’t say the same about the Sharif brothers. Talking to reporters here on Saturday, he criticised PPP’s Sindh government, saying their performance could be gauged from the fact that Aids patients were there at every household. He was not much worried about the movement the opposition parties planned to launch after Eid. Let them go ahead and they would see the results, he said, ostensibly implying that it would remain a fruitless exercise. To a question, Rashid said he advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to let corrupt politicians leave Pakistan, but he did not agree.
Says the PPP leader is also seeking NRO
“The opposition can end in one hour if Imran Khan let them leave the country. I have told Imran Khan to let them go but he said no,” the minister said. “He [Imran Khan] is trying his best to ensure that there is no NRO.” According to Sh Rashid, Asif Zardari is also in line to get an NRO. The minister acknowledged that there was inflation in the country but placed the blame on the past governments. The minister said his ministry would run five special trains to clear the Eid days rush. All these trains would be started from Karachi. He claimed that more and more passengers preferred to travel by train and the Pakistan Railways had attracted 6 million more passengers than last year. This, he said, had raised the revenues by Rs5 billion. Answering a question, Sheikh Rashid said the Railways had recovered Rs 12 million from the ticketless passengers. Responding to a query, he said 1,000 stalls at railway stations would be allotted to poor people, including the heirs of martyrs and widows.