June 18, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 17: Members of the National Assembly on Tuesday continued to use their budget speeches to vent their fury at the delay in reinstatement of the deposed judges and to criticise the long rule of President Pervez Musharraf.

They said that as long as “Gen (retd) Musharraf’s legacy” remained associated with the policy-making process, there would be no visible change in governance.

Khwaja Mohammad Asif of the Pakistan Muslim League-N made stunning accusations about dubious handling of Punjab’s finances by former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly.

He predicted Chaudhry Pervaiz would soon abandon his benefactor (President Musharraf) like his cousin, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

In reply to the opposition leader’s opening speech in the budget debate in which he had mainly targeted the PML-N leadership and the current Punjab government, Khwaja Asif said he wished that Chaudhry Pervaiz had been present to listen to the other side of the story, but he would keep some more ‘revelations’ for such a time.

He said those who had joined hands with every dictator should realise that their party would soon disintegrate and go the way of parties like the Convention League of Ayub Khan.

He alleged that the former chief minister had spent Rs 350 million from the secret fund without leaving any record, of which Rs 100 million was spent during the three months preceding the general election.

He said Rs 1.5 billion had been spent on the CM House, Rs 1 billion on purchase of a plane, Rs 250 million on the construction of a hangar, Rs 300 million on renovation of a destroyed plane and Rs 50 million on construction of a chief minister’s house in Karachi.

He alleged Rs 650 million had been spent on the purchase of bullet-proof vehicles for VVIPs.

Mr Asif alleged that the amount released for disaster relief had been spent in the constituency of Chaudhry Pervaiz’s son, Moonis Elahi.

He said Rs 2.5 billion had been spent on projection of the former chief minister through television and newspaper advertisements and his photograph had been made a part of text books.

He said Rs200 million of the amount had yet to be paid.

“Rs 25 billion had been spent on a ‘mysterious’ ring road for which the land has not been acquired as yet. The case of the Sialkot expressway is no different,” Khwaja Asif alleged.

He accused the Pervaiz Elahi-led government of doling out a loan of Rs 1.53 billion to an entertainment company on 0.25 per cent interest to benefit the former chief minister’s son.

He said a sugar mill, bearing a fictitious name, had been sold to a party by arranging a loan that had not been adjusted so far and government land worth Rs 1 billion had been sold for Rs 260 million to the Metro Super Store.

Mr Asif condemned the ‘gruesome murder’ of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, saying that he was a great patriot and his only crime was that he had raised voice against exploitation of his province.

PML-Q RETORT: Bushra Rahman, a member of the PML-Q, tried to respond to the PML-N stalwart’s speech punctuated by poetry and candid talk but refrained from speaking on behalf of her party leadership or President Musharraf.

She said that the former ruling party had not only handed over power to the new government but President Musharraf had also given the country PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as a leader through the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

Sheikh Rohail Asghar of the PML-N received applause from many lawmakers for his hard-hitting speech covering what he termed genocide of innocent children at Jamia Hafsa, President Musharraf’s callousness in not allowing Nawaz Sharif to attend the last rites of his father, the sacking of the chief justice and other judges and causing the death of a large number of people in military operations in the tribal areas and Balochistan.