KARACHI: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said he is sure that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif will not be part of the anti-government sit-in in Islamabad despite being asked by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to join the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s so-called Azadi March.

Addressing a joint press conference with federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda at his camp office on Friday, Mr Rashid swayed more towards politics rather than matters concerning the Pakistan Railways.

About JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s plan about the Oct 27 protest in a bid to bring the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government down, the minister for railways said he was hearing different things such as changing his mind until he left Islamabad a day earlier. “I am not sure what happened to make him do otherwise,” he said. “But I am sure of one thing that Shahbaz Sharif won’t be a part of the Azadi March despite Nawaz Sharif’s urging or trying to pull his strings from behind the screen,” he added.

About the Islamabad sit-in, the federal minister for water resources said it would only hurt the JUI-F. “We will make him [the JUI-F chief] sit like he won’t be able to stand up again,” Mr Vawda remarked.

Vawda says they would make JUI-F leader sit like he wouldn’t be able to stand up again

“The real issue is that if five people are granted relief by Prime Minister Imran Khan, all this political agitation will die down,” said Mr Rashid.

About the rising inflation and related business community concerns, the minister said: “The media think that all this political unrest right now is because of NAB [National Accountability Bureau]. No baba, it is not like that. NAB has only put a dent in money laundering, it is not hurting businessmen.

“Do you think Imran Khan doesn’t realise that the economic condition going bad is his loss alone? The inflation and criticism from the business community is all affecting the PTI while the entire party is standing on Imran Khan’s good name.”

“The condition of the economy is really [bad] all thanks to thieves, money launderers, corrupt and dishonest people,” the minister said while holding the previous rulers responsible for it.

“But the economy is back on track now. And we will manage to improve it. If he can do that, he will also be able to deal with other politicians, I’m sure,” he said, adding that the politics of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and his father Asif Ali Zardari are separate just like the politics of the Sharif brothers. “These [opposition] parties are breaking up and no longer united on issues now,” the minister, who is president of the Awami Muslim League, believed.

Mr Rashid said he was proud of his leader, Mr Khan, for being able to show the true face of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the world. “I am Kashmiri. The distance between Lal Chowk in Srinagar and my home Lal Haveli in Rawalpindi is no distance at all, in my heart. Modi will pay for his blunder of revoking Article 370,” he said.

“Take it from me, that things will improve, Imran Khan’s government will complete its five years, as the economy will grow and Pakistan Railways will play its part of the backbone of the economy,” Mr Rashid said, adding that the Rawalpindi Ring Road and the railways Main Line-1 were his big projects.

“They will also be completed during this government. God willing, we will also lay the foundation of ML-2 soon. I have ordered preparation of its feasibility, PC-1, monitoring, etc.”

Responding to a question about the newly inaugurated freight train, the railways minister said he had given the freight train to the National Logistics Cell (NLC) at the highest rate. “Railways is earning Rs18 billion from freights, but we can do even better,” he said. “I have given four trains to the private sector, but if provided bank security of Rs36 billion along with monthly payments, they can also take all our freights while we provide them with the operational system.”

About the Japan International Coo­peration Agency’s loss of interest in Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), the railways minister said it had happened before he took over. “But I have been able to have 38km of the total 43km of KCR tracks cleared and we are willing to hand over the entire assets on $2.2 billion for the KCR to the Sindh government if it cooperates with us in clearing the remaining five-kilometre tracks. The railways can give land to the people displaced due to the KCR, but the Sindh government should build houses for them on that land,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2019