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| July 27, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 30, 1427 |
PML-N for selling new GHQ land to fight poverty
ISLAMABAD, July 26: Information secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-N Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday criticised shifting of General Headquarters to Islamabad and suggested setting up of a poverty alleviation fund after auctioning the precious land purchased for GHQ construction.
Giving a presentation at a seminar on “Mega corruption scandals of Gen Pervez Musharraf regime,” organized by the PML-N, he said the construction of new GHQ on 2,438 acres at an estimated market price of Rs500 billion showed misplaced priorities of the government.
The PML-N leader said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had provided the land in three sectors (E-10, D-11 and E-9) for the construction of the “luxurious GHQ” at a throwaway price.
“It would be a great service to the people if the army donated the land for education and poverty alleviation fund,” he said, adding Pakistan can be rid of illiteracy and poverty within five years with this fund.
He said out of 2,438 acres, 190 acres had been allocated for the GHQ while gardens and luxury apartments would be built on the remaining land.
“It is shameful that military generals are being portrayed as biggest land barons in the national media”, said, adding according to reports, 12 per cent of the total state land was owned by military men. The armed forces possessed agricultural land worth Rs700 billion.
The PML-N leader said the nation had witnessed several huge scandals of corruption during the past seven years.
Mr Iqbal said the Supreme Court’s decision in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) privatisation case was a charge-sheet against the government and held Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz responsible for the PSM scam.
He regretted the government was selling vital assets worth Rs150 billion only for Rs22.68 billion.
The PML-N leader said the nation had also witnessed a Rs800 billion stock market scam. He said it had been proved that the brokers responsible for the scam had direct links with the prime minister, a state minister and an adviser.
Similarly, he said, the sugar mills owners earned about Rs10 billion in one month through hoarding of the commodity. The sugar mafia was so strong that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had to stop investigations into the scam.
He said railway locomotives scam of $100 million had been shelved because two retired generals were involved in it.
Similarly, he said, the over Rs40-billion-Habib Bank Limited (HBL) was sold to the Aga Khan Foundation for just Rs22 billion after rejecting a Canadian firm’s Rs35 billion offer.
He said the government had not presented the agreement signed with the buyer of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) before the parliament.
“This is Latin American style government where mafias make policies and governments implement orders and directives of the mafia bosses,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, president of Pakistan Tehrik-i- Insaf (PTI), Punjab, Admiral (retd) Javed Iqbal said military dictator Ayub Khan sold out three rivers, Gen Yahya Khan lost half of the country (East Pakistan), Gen Zia even sold out the religion and introduced a Kalashnikov and heroine culture and now Gen Musharraf was bent upon selling the whole country.
He condemned Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ilahi for stating that the country needed a president in uniform.
Additional joint secretary of the PML-N Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal said the nation once again needed the slogan “Now or Never” raised by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali during the Pakistan Movement and it would have to decide whether it wanted democracy or military rule in the country.
People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf announced that his party would never strike any deal with the dictator.
He said according to the Constitution, the army chief was even subservient to the defence secretary. He said some sycophants were now advising Gen Musharraf to again hold referendum instead of trying to get himself re-elected from the present parliament.
The PPP leader said the opposition was not against the institution of armed forces, but it could not respect those generals who had snatched the rights of the people.
PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said that newspapers were full of the reports of the corruption of rulers, but they were unmoved.
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