Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad Saturday said that introducing changes in the 18th Constitutional Amendment and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance will take time.
Addressing a press conference here at Railways Headquarters, he said that talks with the opposition for amendments to the NAB Ordinance and the 18th Amendment are in progress; however, he added, it would be a joke if the demands of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) are accepted.
He said he said that NAB would be made a strong active institution after Eidul Fitr. “NAB to become a ‘Tarzan’ after Eid, and it will work at all sides,” he said.
He said that the draft of amendments to the NAB Ordinance, available to various people, is a fake document, adding that nothing is made public in this regard so far.
Sh Rashid said that he is, however, against amendments or alterations to the NAB Ordinance or the 18th Amendment.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has introduced a professional team in the Ministry of Information, adding that Shibli Faraz would play on the screen as the information minister while Asim Salim Bajwa would act behind the screen as an adviser to the Prime Minister.
He said that Indian Muslims are facing atrocities at the hands of the Indian government and looking towards Imran Khan, adding that the Pakistan government would never disappoint them in the time of hardships.
The railways minister said that the Prime Minister would never spare mafias active in loan, sugar, flour and independent power producers (IPPs) sectors and he would fight a legal decisive war against them who had looted the national exchequer.
He said that sugar, flour and IPPs mafias remain part of every cabinet and they try to bribe the governments for their vested interests.
Sh Rashid said that his party has one seat in the parliament, but it is one of the strongest parties as its leader stays in news always.
To a question, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would complete his tenure of five years and win the next elections due to his straight-forward policy against looters. He said that investigation commission on the IPPs have not been formed yet, adding that action against the sugar and flour mafias has been delayed due to delay in the forensic reports on the request of the departments concerned.
To a question, he said that Shehbaz Sharif wants to flee again, taking plea that the operation of Nawaz Sharif has been postponed due to coronavirus and he wants to be with his brother.
Responding to a question about former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan, he said she would now show up at the media from time to time, adding that he has no issue with anyone in the government.
He said that lockdown is not being followed by anyone and it seems to be a joke with the white-collar middle class citizens who have been deprived of their businesses due to lockdown. They are really worried as their small shops have been their only means of earning, which have currently been closed.
He said he had requested the authorities concerned to allow the small shopkeepers to open their shops before first Ramadan so that they could do business like others and looms of Faisalabad and Gujranwala could be protected.
He said that millions of people are expected to fall below the poverty line in the upcoming few months due to coronavirus and unemployment would become a big issue in future.
About railways, the minister said that train operations can be restored in 24 hours if the Prime Minister orders for it. He said that the PR would be able to pay salaries to its employees only for the next month, adding that financial help would be required for paying the salaries after that. He said that due to suspension of trains, the railways is bearing Rs 5 billion deficit per month.
He said if train operations are restored, the number of passengers would have to be cut to half of the capacity to protect them from the virus, which would also be a big loss for the department.
“I was planning to eradicate Rs 34 billion deficit of the Railways, but now it will be impossible,” he added.
He made it clear that not a single officer or worker of the Railways would be sacked due to coronavirus.
Appreciating the role of railways staff during the current coronavirus situation, he urged the Finance Department to upgrade one scale of all railways employees, adding that it would improve performance of the railways. He said that the prime minister was himself working on restructuring of the Railways.
The minister thanked the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for providing masks to the railways workers. He said that one thousand markets would be made at the railway commercial land to meet the deficit of the railways.
