Royal Palm Golf and Country Club Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramzan Sheikh said on Wednesday that the Railways authorities received only Rs 240 from 1980 to 2000 for the land now under his club’s control while the Royal Palm has paid them Rs 550 million since taking over the club in 2001.
He was talking to the Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami in his Channel 24 programme DNA on Wednesday night.
“The Railway Police has no mandate to take over the control of the club by launching a raid,” Sheikh said and added that the raid was carried out under cover of darkness in the early hours of the day which shows the Railways’ mala fide intentions.
He further added that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif believes in the rule of law but he did nothing in this case even though the law was so clearly breached.
Counsel for Ramzan Sheikh, Faisal Naqvi, said during the show that the Railways authorities took custody of the club illegally, despite the stay order of the court.
Rejecting Railways’ claims that the administration of Royal Palm did not construct the promised hotel as per the agreement, he said the reality was that they were not allowed by the Railways to construct that hotel on the premises of the club.
Talking about the reference filed by the opposition parties for the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Naqvi said that it is a publicity stunt by the opposition parties.
“Articles 62 and 63 were made part of the constitution by a dictator and they must be removed forthwith,” he said and added that the people of Pakistan have given the government the mandate to rule for five years and the opposition parties should wait for the next elections.
Nizami said in his concluding remarks that he had tried to contact Railway Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique to come to the show and give his version of events but he had refused to do so.
