RAWALPINDI Awami Muslim League (AML) and former federal minister for Railways Sheikh Rashsid demanded of the government to remove Railway Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour immediately for his pathetic handling of the railway affairs. He said that due to wrong policies of railway minister, Pakistan Railways has no funds even to pay salaries to its employees. Sheikh said this at a sit-in he had staged in front of Rawalpindi Railway Station in connection with Save Railways drive here on Friday. More then 700 railway employees and workers of AML took part in the sit-in, carrying placards and banners inscribed slogans against government and railway high ups. While addressing, Sheikh Rashid said that he had come here to mourn the destruction of PR with its employees. He said that Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour after his statement that Pakistan should close railway department as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have no trains has no right to impart his duty as minister. He said that corruption was on rise in railway while bureaucracy was also involved in plundering money. If given full control, I can get the railways back on the track and give salaries to the employees within just 9 days. I should be called Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour if I fail to do so, he vowed. He said the government was giving jobs to the near and dears of Khurshid Shah, Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and Nazar Gondal but in the meantime depriving poor people from their jobs. The ministers can be given exorbitant salaries but there are no funds for the wages and pension of the poor railway workers who demanded their legal right he said. Sheikh was of view that during his tenure a total of 24 new passenger trains were introduced but Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour forced the railway department for closure of 124 trains. Bilour remained busy in looting railway money and later distributing among his relatives instead of utilizing it for the betterment of Railway he alleged. The Pakistan Steel Mills, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were also being destroyed under a conspiracy. Railway has been a symbol of national integrity and unity. Harming was tantamount of harming national integrity and unity, Rashid lamented. He said that the British left 10,000 kilometres length of rail track, which now has been reduced to less than 7,000 kilometres owing to wrong polices of the government. Moreover, the use of substandard or fewer lubricants have also destroyed shafts worth Rs 10 million each. He said that U.S. and its allies wanted to harm Pakistan Army, however, they could not success in their nefarious designs. He said that so far 5000 Pakistan Army Jawans martyred while fighting against terrorists. Pakistan is not facing threats from NATO rather its leadership is engaged in destabilizing it Sheikh Rashid said adding that the government had badly failed to mitigate the maladies of public. He informed that President Asif Zardari and many other politicians deposited 97 billion dollars in Swiss accounts. He said that N league was playing the role of friendly opposition. He said that government seemed in no mood to solve the ongoing energy crises as it did not start work on Pakistan Iran Gas pipe line that the heads of both countries decided to build to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. He said that government had also failed in controlling loadshedding. Courts are not providing justice to the poor. The crime rate is very high as children of poor people are openly being kidnapped for ransom he added. He said that high and mighty was not paying tax rather government was collecting tax from 80 per cent poor people. Scores of families now living off in miserable conditions owing to inflation, he said adding that some people were eating dead bodies to fill their stomach. Urging all the political parties to join hands to save the railways, AML President Sheikh Rahshid Ahmed he said the present government could only be toppled through a campaign of the railway workers. The next sit-in would be staged at Multan, Karachi and Hyderabad, he informed. The office bearers of Railways Union also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, Sheikh Rashid took out a rally from Lal Haveli and reached Rawalpindi Railway Station by passing various areas of Rawalpindi. Tight security armaments were made by police to avert any untoward.