Why should Swati resign for ‘sins’ committed by Rafique, says Fawad

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that incumbent railways minister cannot be blamed for the “incompetence” of his predecessor, PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique.

“Why should Azam Swati [railways minister] resign over the sins committed by Saad Rafique,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad after train collision incident which claimed the lives of at least 40 passengers and left dozens injured.

The minister claimed that the due to the lack of investment by the previous governments all institutions including railways were in tatters.

Fawad said PTI-led government was the first in country that initiated mega ML-1 project for the up-gradation of the railways.

The minister said that investigation into the cause of incident was underway and as soon as any headway was made the findings would be made public.

Former railways minister Rafique expressed regret over the minister’s allegations, saying that the time was not appropriate for mudslinging.

The PML-N leader in a video statement urged the government to “not play with the lives of travellers” and take steps for improvement of the railways.

He said the PTI-led government had destroyed the railways and did not do any work for its improvement.

Rafique said the ML-1 project was initiated during the last tenure of PML-N under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and added that the project was delayed due to the incompetence of incumbent rulers.

A collision between two passenger express trains in Sindh's Ghotki district killed at least 40 people and injured scores more on Monday, with the death toll likely to rise as rescuers were still trying to access several mangled coaches.

According to Pakistan Railway (PR) officials, the collision occurred between the Millat Express, which was en-route from Karachi to Sargodha and Sir Syed Express, coming from Rawalpindi. The mishap occurred between Raiti and Obaro railway stations.

A spokesperson of PR added that the accident occurred after the coaches of one train, the Millat Express, derailed and fell across the opposite track, where they were hit by another train, the Sir Syed Express.