‘Shahbaz must apologise for seeking Army’s help’

PPP Punjab President demands Sharif to tender apology for asking Army to help politicians to resolve national issues.

LAHORE:

Imtiaz Safdar Wariach, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab President, demanded, on Thursday, that Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif should tender an apology for asking the Army to help politicians in resolving national issues.

Wariach said that PPP had good relations with the judiciary and the Army. He said that parliament, the army and the judiciary were playing their role independently.

Former minister for finance and planning and development Tanvir Ashraf Kaira pointed to the Sasti Roti Scheme as a failure and a ploy to please the masses. The former minister also held up a copy of the Transparency International Report saying eight out of the 10 most corrupt departments it had identified were part of the Punjab as government. He said of the government was incompetent and lacked a moral backbone.

Kaira said that in 2008 the province had a financial surplus of Rs60.2 billion while in 2009 it had a deficit of Rs42 billion because of its many failed schemes. One such scheme, he said, was Shahbaz Sharif’s Sasti Roti Scheme which was not sustainable. He said Sharif’s motive was to garner popularity. Tandoors, he said, were granted to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers and MPAs. The scheme failed badly and had to be closed, he added. He said another scheme, Sasta Aata, did not even gain popularity so Sharif had to close it down.

The recently ousted minister recounted that on several occasions during cabinet meetings the chief minister had said that as much as 50 per cent of Punjab’s development funds may have been misused. Kaira questioned why Shairf had not taken action against the perpetrators of massive corruption. He alleged that Sharif was involved in and responsible for the missing funds.

“My intention in revealing the facts is to inform the nation that Punjab, once the richest province, has been forced into financial default by misgovernance,” he said while speaking with media men at Lahore Press Club.

In the financial year 2008-2009, the Punjab government’s loan amounted to Rs 304 billion and now the amount was Rs440 billion.

He said that the most shocking fact in this regard was that the federal government under the revised National Finance Commission award had paid an extra 10 per cent to Punjab which came to Rs100 billion. He said Sharif should inform the nation where he had spent all the money.

Kaira said that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had criticised the federal government for alleged loss of Rs500 billion in tax collection.

He said that the Punjab government in 2008-2009 had set itself a Rs45 billion target for tax collection but was only able to collect Rs28 billion. He said that in 2009-2010 it had set a Rs50 billion target but could only collect Rs36.8 billion. He said the Punjab government has a deficit in the tax collection system of around Rs25.8 billion. He said that at the federal level the deficit in tax collection was in the range of 4 to 6 per cent but in Punjab it was over 30 percent. He said that according to a Transparency International Report, out of the the 10 most corrupt departments, eight were under the Punjab government. He said that scale of corruption had grown during the last three years. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that constructive criticism from the PPP would be welcomed. If it tried to disrupt business of the assembly, however, it would be dealt with an iron hand.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2011.