Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has asked President Asif Ali Zardari to tell the nation what favours he has given to property tycoon Malik Riaz in exchange for the Rs 5 billion “gift” of Bilawal House in Lahore’s Bahria Town. Referring to media reports quoting an assertion by the Transparency International Pakistan that the 200-kanal Bilawal House had been gifted to Zardari by Malik Riaz, Imran questioned the reasons behind such a costly gift. He said that such transactions reflected how much corruption had been going on at the country’s top level and how much the integrity of the individuals at the helm of affairs had been compromised. “This reflects the lust and hunger of the elites for acquiring more and more wealth and building palaces through corrupt practices. Unfortunately, our rulers have learned nothing from history as people are suffering and rulers are living in lavish luxury,” the PTI chief remarked. Imran deplored the fact that neither the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) nor any other law enforcement agency had taken notice of such a precious “gift”. “The meaningful silence by NAB chairman also reflects that the questions raised about the alleged harassment of those NAB officials who were investigating the RPPs case were genuine. This has also revealed that the hue and cry of the family of late Kamran Faisal dubbing his death as a murder holds ground while the harassment of Waqas Ahmed Khan, another NAB investigator in RPPs case, was also genuine,” he added. The PTI chairman said the inaction by the NAB chief had also vindicated the reports that Fasih Bukhari was a close friend of Malik Riaz.
Gifts given out to Presidents, Prime Ministers and government functionaries in their official capacity are the property of the government of Pakistan. After Asif Ali Zardari no longer remains President of Pakistan, the property would revert to the people of Pakistan. People will have to wait only a few months.
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