ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has termed the audit report of the Pakistan Railways presented before the Supreme Court “another slap” in the face of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government and a proof of the “national service” rendered by its previous government.

Earlier, the PML-N had termed the recent report of the Transparency Inter­natio­nal a “charge-sheet” against the PTI government.

PML-N leader Moham­mad Zubair in a statement here on Tuesday said that every allegation levelled by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his “cronies” against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his team was proving wrong.

The former Sindh governor issued the statement on the day Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed received a bashing from the judges in the Supreme Court during the hearing of a suo motu case relating to the colossal losses sustained by the Pakistan Railways.

Taking exception to the financial losses incurred by the railways, the Supreme Court bench headed by the chief justice had on Monday observed that no department in the country was more corrupt than Pakistan Railways.

At a previous hearing, a report furnished by the A.F. Ferguson and Co, which was appointed financial auditors for the scrutiny of the accounts of the department, had mentioned that Pakistan Railways had improved remarkably between 2013 and 2018 when its revenue had surged from Rs18 billion to Rs40bn, whereas the freight revenue increased from Rs1bn in 2012-13 to Rs12.4bn in 2016-17.

Quoting the audit report figures, Mr Zubair said it had proved that the working of the railways had improved remarkably under then railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique. He said Mr Rafique was “maligned” in the past as part of a political victimisation campaign.

Mr Zubair said it had now been proved that Mr Rafique was facing detention only on political grounds.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2020