No room for protest in Islamabad: Sheikh Rashid

• Railways Sheikh Rashid says there is no room for protest in Islamabad due to growing tension on LoC.
• The minister says that government is trying its best to handle the issue through talks.

RAWALPINDI: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Tuesday said that there was no room for protest in Islamabad due to growing tension on Line of Control (LOC).

Talking to media persons while inaugurating the Cooking, Computer and Beautification classes in Railway handicraft school, Sheikh Rashid said that government was trying its best to handle the issue through talks. “However, if there was a law and order situation, the government will decide according to law to protect the life and property of people,” he said.

The minister said that Pakistan Railways would submit the Mainline (ML-I)s PC-I to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) Planning Commission this week. Under the ML-I, minister said over 1800 kilometres railways track would be laid out across the country at the cost of around US $9 billion.

With the start of ML-I, he said the travel time from Rawalpindi to Karachi would reduce from 22 hours to 10 hours, he said.

“A train from Rawalpindi would reach at Lahore in just 2.5 hours”, he added.

The minister said around 80,000 youth would get jobs under this project, adding that no new application would be accepted in that regard as the ministry had already received one million applications of job seekers.

He said that basic allowances of railway police were made equal to Punjab police and Pakistan Army. Earlier the police personnel were getting 50 per cent allowance of the basic pay of 2010.

He said the government was taking all possible measures to overcome the losses of Pakistan Railways and claimed that its quarterly income has been enhanced to

Rs600 million then the given target.

Sheikh Rashid said that the employees were the asset of Pakistan Railways and all available resources would be utilized to help facilitate them.

Minister said that the past rulers were responsible for making price hike in the country because of the large scale corruption and loot of national exchequer as a result of which the masses were suffering adversely.