KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and the prime minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, locked horns on social media on Sunday after the former accused the government of approving Rs430 million for renovating Nawaz Sharif’s “private home” in Murree.

Maryam Nawaz was quick to respond to the allegation on Twitter and clarified that it was a government property, and not a house of the Sharif family.

The PTI chief had tweeted that “government has approved Rs430 million for refurbishing Sharif’s personal home in Murree using Saarc summit in Murree as a pretext”. He termed it a shameful act.

“This is not first time Sharifs have used public money on their properties. Rs11 billion were spent on upgrading Raiwind estate and its environs,” he tweeted, adding: “It is due to such abuse of public money by our leaders that the people are reluctant to pay taxes.”

PTI chief accuses govt of approving Rs430m for renovating PM’s ‘private home’

Meanwhile, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid issued a statement on the issue, saying that the PTI chief was “hostage to his habit of telling lies”. He said Imran Khan was a “lies manufacturing factory”, adding: “The PTI chief cannot live without lying in his daily routine.”

The minister said the Governor House in Murree, which was being renovated, was not a private residence. “The PTI chairman should be ashamed of his baseless allegation in this regard. Imran Khan has recently returned from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah.

How­ever, it is regrettable that he has still not abandoned his bad habits,” he alleged.

As if the two replies — Maryam’s and the minister’s — were not enough, the federal government also issued a clarification on the matter.

“The Governor House in Murree is a historical government building which is being restored and refurbished for its preservation,” said a statement issued by a spokesman for the PM House in the evening.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had not stayed in this building for a single night during his current tenure,” it clarified.

Referring to “certain allegations” about allocation of funds for any private building in Murree, the spokesman dismissed these as “misplaced and wrong”.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2016