Sharifs’ sugar mills host 300 Indians, says Qadri

Sharif Group MD denies allegations, says family will take PAT chief to court

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri on Friday unveiled a list of 50 Indians who have been allegedly working in sugar mills owned by the Sharif brothers.

“They are part of some 300 Indians working in the sugar mills on a police reporting-free, multiple-entry visas,” Qadri told reporters at the PAT Model Town secretariat.



He said these Indians were issued visas on letterheads issued by the sugar mills owned by the Sharifs, adding that the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi was instructed to give these Indians visas that exempt them from reporting to the police.

“Exemption from police reporting is given in very high-profile cases. But these Indians, who have been given visas are engineers, welders, technicians and IT experts. Are all such experts not available in Pakistan? Either all Pakistanis should be allowed to import workers from India or the Sharifs should be questioned on this?” said Qadri.

He also expressed fear that some of them could be Indian spies. “It is not written on the forehead of anybody that he is a spy. It wasn’t written on Kulbhushan Yadav’s forehead that he was a spy. If they are not spies then why have they been exempted from police reporting and why have customs officials not been given permission to search their luggage,” Qadri said.



“In the next episode, I will share the names and passports of other Indians,” he added. “Rules are the same in India and Pakistan. If anybody from the two countries has to travel to the other country, they have to report to police. I spoke about Indians working in Sharifs’ sugar mills in Rawalpindi and nobody dare rebut it, which shows whatever I said was true. They are slaughtering national sovereignty and should be questioned.”



The PAT chief demanded that the Sharifs and their ministers should be arrested and then interrogated.

Sharifs to sue Qadri for defamation

Responding to Qadri’s allegations, Sharif Group of Industries Managing Director Yousaf Abbas Sharif said “not a single Indian is working in a Sharif family sugar mill.”

“Currently, 1,100 plus employees are working at the mills, none of whom are foreigners,” he said. “Tahirul Qadri is a proven liar. We are sending him a defamation notice and will take him to court,” Yousaf added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2016.