–Demands better facilities for Rana Sanaullah in detention
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday demanded an inquiry into the Peshawar Bus Rapid (BRT) project, saying that it crossed its budget and has inconsistencies in design and construction.
Speaking to the media after his appearance before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) where he had been summoned in a case pertaining to alleged corruption in the Narowal Sports City Project (NSCP), he said that the Peshawar BRT had started off with a cost of Rs30 billion but had crossed the Rs100 billion mark.
“If you want to hold an inquiry, start with Peshawar BRT,” he said, adding that there are visible inconsistencies in its design and construction and has turned the city of flowers into a massive ditch.
Justifying NSCP, the former interior minister said it is “not a project of ditches” as it had been built in accordance with “international standards” in his constituency to promote sports in Pakistan. He said that the project was nearing completion but owing to “someone’s baseless request” the project had been halted. He said that such “successful” national projects should not be made controversial.
The former interior minister said that the previous PML-N government had successfully completed many development projects in its tenure and had also brought the projects of the previous governments to completion. He alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan was on a “mission to destroy Pakistan’s economy”.
He said that his party would not stop revealing the premier’s “failures” as none of them is afraid of arrests and detentions. “We will continue to tell the nation how the economic growth rate dropped from 6 per cent to 3 per cent because of the incumbent government’s policies,” he added.
The former interior minister also called for better facilities to be provided to detained former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, who was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) two days ago.
