Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday criticised the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for what he called renovating Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s personal home in Murree on the pretext of Saarc Summit through approval of Rs 430 million.
Later in the day, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s House rejected the allegations of allocating public funds for a private building in Murree.
Imran wrote on his official Twitter account, “Shameful how govt has approves Rs 43 crores for refurbishing Sharif’s personal home in Murree using SAARC Summit in Murree as a pretext.”
“This is not first time Sharifs have used public money on their properties. Rs 11 b was spent upgrading Raiwind estate & it’s environs,” alleged the PTI chief in another tweet.
“The Raiwind road case is still in NAB. With such abuse of public money by our ldrs (leaders), it is no wonder ppl (people) are reluctant to pay taxes,” he went on to post.
In a statement released on Sunday, the PM’s House spokesman said that the government had allocated funds for renovation and decoration of the Governor’s House Murree which was property of the government and a historical building.
He said that the renovation was aimed at protecting the historical building. He said PM Nawaz, during his current tenure, had never stayed a single day in the building or even visited it.
The spokesperson said that baseless allegations were levelled against the government to impede the renovation of the historical buildings which was the need of the hour.
Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Prime Minister Sharif was also quick to respond on Twitter and defend her family’s name, clarifying that it was a government’s property and not the personal house of Sharif family.
“Ok so Government House Murree is now Sharif Family’s personal home! This man is coming straight from the Holy Land,” Maryam mocked Imran Khan through her post on Twitter.