By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that the only charge against him was that he had built the country’s largest sports complex in his hometown of Narowal.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, Iqbal said it was extremely unfortunate that when 90 percent of work on Narowal Sports City was complete, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government withheld the funds, thereby turning the entire complex into ruins.
“In fact, the damage done to this project is what is culpable,” the PML-N leader argued.
He challenged the government to prove the corruption of a single penny against him. He said that all rules and regulations were followed before starting work on the project.
“Kartarpur Corridor was built at the cost of Rs17 billion, while the cabinet was giving its approval only now,” he said, asking: “Is not it a discrepancy?”
He regretted that he remained imprisoned despite being innocent but nobody was holding those people accountable who bypassed the rules and regulations before launching their projects.
Mocking the slogan of “Do Nahi, Aik Pakistan” (one, and not two, Pakistan), the PML-N leader said today there was no accountability of those sitting in the corridors of power. He slammed the government for what he said was the destruction of the economy.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan can only collect funds, [he] cannot run a country,” he commented. He also accused the Punjab government of plundering the province, claiming only a PML-N government can run the country honestly.
“Now even the PTI leaders and workers drive their vehicles on the same motorways which we had built,” he boasted. He said he and other members of his party were proud to have served Pakistan. Lashing out at the Punjab government, the PML-N leader said the situation had come to such a pass that even people from within the PTI were raising eyebrows.
“The level of your governance is that even for making people wear masks, you have to call in Pakistan Army, while when were in power, the same job was done by the civil departments,” he said.
He accused the PTI government of destroying the careers of competent and able civil servants by framing graft cases against them while elevating the “incompetent ones” to higher posts.
