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| December 23, 2002 | Monday | Shawwal 18, 1423 |
Rashid urges CM to take party out of ‘official basket’
RAWALPINDI, Dec 22: The information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, has asked the chief minister to “take the PML out of the official basket”.
He was speaking at a public rally here on Sunday.
Mr Ahmed refuted the impression that he cheated his voters by joining the PML-Q. “I never cheated the voters and told them that I am contesting elections under the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and that it was expedient to take the president and armed forces along under the present circumstances,” he said.
Furthermore, the minister said he believed that the future belonged to the PML-Q and decided to join this party for the sake of the development of the city.
Regarding the reunification of the PML, he said he did not believe in any factionalism and would strive for uniting all factions.
Discussing the problem of franchised transport system, he demanded of the government to revoke the agreement and save the small transporters from annihilation.
He vowed to get back the GTS depot from the private company, the present allottee, and make it a computer science college where children of the poor could get education.
“Government property worth millions has been leased out for peanuts,” he said, while criticizing the franchise agreement with the company. He said one family could not be allowed to make fortunes at the cost of thousands of others.
Mr Ahmed said Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali would speak to a public gathering in Rawalpindi in a couple of days in connection with the election campaign for NA-56 by- polls.
APP ADDS: The minister said serving the masses was the basic principal of his politics.
“We have never deceived the innocent people of the city and always tried to resolve their problems,” he said.
He thanked the chief minister for transferring a plot of the RDA to the education department for construction of an educational institute, announcing construction of a 40-bed hospital in Dhoke Khabba and Rs100 million for the development of the city and opening of the Khanna bridge.
Mr Ahmed said his relations with the Punjab chief minister’s family were very old as he had been introduced in politics by Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi.
He said if he failed to serve the people of the city, he would leave politics forever.
He said shortage of potable water in Rawalpindi was a big problem and “we are striving hard to resolve it”.
“We have planned to connect water pipeline from Ghazi to Khanpur Dam for supply of water to the city.
Shaukat Aziz has also been asked to cooperate and release funds for development of the area,” he added.
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