PTI blasts govt for ‘wasting’ Rs430m on Murree house

Rs11 billion spent upgrading Raiwind estate, claims Imran

ISLAMABAD:

Not content with creating uproar over revelations in the Panama Papers, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf [PTI] censured the government for reportedly allocating Rs430 million for refurbishing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s personal home in the popular hill station of Murree.

The money, according to reports, was allocated to refurbish the Murree house of the prime minister for the upcoming summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). However, the PTI chairman wasted no time in criticising the decision.



“It is shameful how the government has approved Rs430 million for refurbishing [Nawaz] Sharif’s personal home in Murree using the Saarc summit in Murree as a pretext,” he said in a tweet after returning home from Saudi Arabia where he had gone to perform an Umrah.

“This is not the first time the Sharifs have used public money on their properties. Rs11 billion was spent on upgrading the Raiwind estate and its environs,” he claimed.

The PTI chief maintained that the style of governance adopted by incumbent rulers was duplicitous, with a set of rules for the elites and another for general public, adding that this was the reason why people did not pay taxes. “The Raiwind road case is still (pending) in NAB. With such abuse of public money by our leaders, it is no wonder people are reluctant to pay taxes,” he said in another tweet.

PTI’s Central Information Secretary Naeemul Haq told The Express Tribune that the prime minister’s house in Murree was a personal residence of the Sharif family. “This money, Rs 430 million, is not spent on the Governor House [in Murree] or other such government accommodations,” he added.

Haq said his party would highlight this matter in the National Assembly which convenes on Monday (today).

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the government said all allegations of allocation of funds on any private building in Murree were ‘misplaced are wrong’. “The Governor House Murree is a   historical government building and is being restored and refurbished for its preservation,” the spokesperson insisted. “The prime minister has not stayed in this building for one night in this tenure.”

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said Imran was hostage to his ‘habit of telling lies’. In a statement, he called Imran a "lies-manufacturing factory as the PTI chief could not leave without lying in his daily routine”.



The Governor House in Murree, he said, was not a private residence so it was being renovated and refurbished. The PTI chairman should be ashamed of his baseless allegations, he added.

PTI supports talks with government on ToRs

Asked about talks with the government over the issue of terms of reference (ToRs) of a judicial inquiry into the Panama leaks, Haq said: “The PTI is not against talks. But we will discuss this issue with all opposition parties and take a collective decision.”



Detailing the party’s efforts to muster support for the ToRs, he said PTI chief Imran Khan had sent letters to bar councils, seeking their support. Haq said bar councils have endorsed the opposition’s point of view and their ToRs as well.

Responding to a question about the opposition’s strategy on upcoming NA session, he said the opposition parties would hold a meeting to devise a strategy before the session. The party would also hold a separate meeting of its parliamentarians, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2016.