LAHORE: As the federal government led by PML-N is gearing up to thwart the possible plan of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to hold a long march on the capital, the PTI-PMLQ coalition government in Punjab in a bid give a tit for tat response launched alleged corruption investigation against Islamabad Inspector General Akbar Nasir Khan.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) of Punjab has summoned Nasir Khan for Oct 11 at its Lahore headquarters and sought reply on corruption allegations against him in the Punjab Safe City Authority.

“There are allegations of alleged corruption in different projects of the Punjab Safe City Authority. Akbar Nasir Khan has worked as the chief operating officer of the PSCA in Lahore and during his tenure there were complaints of corruption on a large scale in various projects of the authority,” an ACE spokesperson said in a statement here on Friday.

He said the incumbent Islamabad IG and former COO Akbar Nasir Khan had been directed to appear before the director vigilance ACE headquarters in Lahore on October 11. “The director admin Punjab Safe City Authority has also been summoned along with the record of different projects of the authority,” he said.

The federal interior ministry led by Rana Sanaullah has reportedly prepared a plan under which the police have been given a go ahead to put PTI chairman Imran Khan under ‘house arrest’ at his Banigala residence after the announcement of the much-hyped long march.

Imran Khan has already asked the party workers to be ready for his final call for a decisive long march aimed at ousting the present coalition government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Recently, the PTI supporters and leaders in some districts have pledged under oath that they would render every sacrifice for the ‘real freedom march’.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi who is in London on a family visit laughed off at Sanaullah`s warnings to Imran Khan about marching on Islamabad. Mr Elahi said: “Look around, who is in government? In Punjab, there is Imran Khan. He is there in KP, AJK and GB...Rana Sanullah won`t have space to stand.”

Safe City

The Punjab Safe City project was inaugurated by then chief minister Shehbaz Sharif in October 2016 at a cost of Rs12bn.

The project was based on the state-of-the-art AI technology, capable of facial recognition, vehicle number plate tracking, traffic management, and fully integrated with the Punjab police.

As per a recently compiled report, 35 per cent of the total cameras are still non-functional even after the lapse of six years or so, keeping many major roads and other parts of the city out of surveillance.

The surveillance of the city through cameras has been a major segment of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority with a prime purpose to improve the capacity of the law-enforcement agencies to ensure timely response to the emergencies by equipping them with state-of-the-art technology.

According to official stats, out of 7,678 cameras installed at various sites of the provincial capital Lahore, 2,500 are still non-functional.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2022