Shehbaz Sharif bashes PM for his involvement in Rawalpindi Ring Road case

The PML-N president maintained that the planning of the RRR project was completed in PML-N’s tenure in 2017-18 however PM Imran Khan permitted its extension which cost an additional Rs25 billion.

"The permission for the extension in this project was given by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself, the original Ring Road project had no extension in it,” Shehbaz added.

The PML-N president, along with the Member of the National Assembly, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal reached Charsadda to offer condolences for the late politician Begum Wali Khan.

NA opposition leader president also recalled the sacrifices of ex-Awami National Party’s (ANP) provincial president Begum Naseem Wali, who had passed away on May 16, and called her a brave woman. 

Talking to the media, the opposition leader maintained that the prime minister had earlier defended the decision of extension in the RRR on television as not impacting the environment and later took a U-turn.

“Four metro projects were completed in Nawaz Sharif’s tenure and not a single bright evidence of corruption was found in any of the projects”, Shehbaz stated.

It is to be noted that the controversy over the RRR project was started a few days back with the resignation of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari on Monday as SAPM on Overseas Pakistanis over the allegations levelled against him in the RRR project scam.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal also took notice of the alleged corruption, irregularities and illegal land acquisition of billions of rupees in the Rawalpindi Ring Road project has ordered the bureau’s Rawalpindi office to further probe the matter.

According to a NAB statement issued from Islamabad, Chairman Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal has directed NAB Rawalpindi to complete the investigation of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project without any discrimination and following the law and review all aspects of the project.

He further directed the investigative teams to look into all aspects of corruption in the project.

It may be recalled that in the government inquiry, it was alleged that some housing societies have been benefited by changing the layout of the Ring Road project in Rawalpindi.

According to the fact-finding report, former Rawalpindi Commissioner Captain (retd) Muhammad Mahmood and suspended Land Acquisition Commissioner Wasim Tabish paid Rs2.30 billion for land acquisition and benefited a well-known family of the area.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest opposition party had accused two members of the federal cabinet of benefiting from the re-alignment of the Ring Road project and demanded to arrest the Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

According to PML-N spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb, "neither Prime Minister Imran Khan nor Chief Minister Usman Bazdar nor Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Zulfi Bukhari, who directly 'benefited' can be exempted from this investigation."

PML-N Central spokesperson said in a statement that there was no need for further investigation into the Ring Road project as “evidence of this project is in front of people.”

She said that Imran Khan and Usman Bazdar should be arrested as Imran Khan had self-approved the changes in the Ring Road project on February 4, 2021.

The PML-N leader questioned why Imran Khan was conducting an inquiry into his order. Who benefited by giving orders and who is being benefited by stopping the project.

It may be recalled that the report of the Fact-Finding Committee regarding irregularities in the Ring Road Rawalpindi project has come to light in which big names and officials working in the incumbent government were found guilty.

On the other hand, PML-N had rejected the Punjab government's inquiry report on corruption and irregularities in the Ring Road project.