Rashid asks Shehbaz to quit as PAC chief in eight days

The minister alleged that previous rulers ignored the Pakistan Railways to get kickbacks in deals for import of bogies

ISLAMABAD: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Friday the government's decision to appoint Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was unfair.

Addressing workers of the Pakistan Railways Carriage Factory, he set a deadline of eight days for Sharif to quit as the PAC chairman. "How a person involved in corruption can be appointed Chairman of Public Account Committee," he said. “Shehbaz Sharif is not acceptable in PAC.”

The minister alleged that Sharif, as PAC Chairman, was trying to bargain in his position. He added that he had made it clear to Prime Minister Imran Khan that Sharif was not acceptable to him as chief of the house’s top accountability panel. “I am quiet only because of Imran Khan,” he said.

Rashid was also critical of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser’s decision of issuing the production order for Sharif. “You [the speaker] have done a wrong thing,” he said. “They are here on a picnic. Giving interviews and getting their pictures taken.”



The minister said that there would be no deal with the corrupt elements and no relaxation would be given to anyone.

“A bargain [by the PAC chairman] would not be acceptable,” he added, in remarks that echoed Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s press conference the other day in which he also demanded resignation of Sharif on “moral grounds”.

The minister alleged that previous rulers ignored the Pakistan Railways Carriage Factory (PRCF) to get kickbacks in deals for import of bogies. He added it was unfortunate that Pakistan Railways performance declined due to wrong policies of the previous government.

He announced that from the next year, all passenger bogies would be manufactured indigenously at the PRCF. "I promise that no passenger coach will be imported in the future from next year and all the passenger bogies will be prepared in Pakistan Railway factory." He added that locomotives would also be built in the factory.

During next five year, he continued, there would be an effective network of railways across the country. Later, the minister visited different areas of the carriage factory and interacted with workers busy in the manufacturing of the coaches.