LAHORE: “Those who had declared others thieves had sugar and wheat bandits in their own ranks, but they have arranged their escape to save own skin”, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, Spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).
Marriyum Aurangzeb was reacting over the report of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which had been tasked to probe the recent sugar and wheat crisis. The report claims top PTI members were among those who benefited from the shortages.
PML-N leader lashed out at the PTI government for having declared others thieves while having “bandits” in their own ranks. “The people Imran sahab continues to blame are neither in the government, nor are they ministers,” she said, referring to the prime minister’s criticism of the previous governments which he says are to blame for the country’s financial turmoil.
Aurangzeb alleged that “under the patronage” of the prime minister, “Jahangir Tareen, Khusro Bakhtiar and the companies of allies continued to smuggle sugar” out of the country.
Addressing the premier, she demanded that he explain to the people why his “ATM” had robbed the nation twice — a reference to Tareen, who is among the wealthiest politicians in the country.
She said that the Punjab government had provided a Rs3bn subsidy to the “sugar bandits”. “The report says that Tareen’s sugar mills received a 22 per cent subsidy which amounted to Rs 560 million,” said the PML-N spokesperson.
She said that the report has placed the blame on the provincial and federal governments “whose incompetence led to the wheat shortage”. “Imran sahab, neither did the Sharif Group export even a kilo of sugar nor did it take even a rupee’s worth of subsidy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Siraj ul Haq, said: “Now begins the real test for Prime Minister Imran Khan. Will his close friends get arrested and go to jail?”
He also questioned whether these “friends” will return the nation’s money.
Haq demanded that the subsidy given from the national treasury and the profit earned from the wheat and sugar shortages be returned and deposited in the Corona Relief Fund.
Read more: Top PTI leadership benefited from sugar crisis, claims FIA report
