Pakistan court orders minister to submit strategy for Railways

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Federal Minister for Railways to submit a business plan in two weeks to improve Pakistan Railways.

The court also summoned the minister and secretary of planning in the next hearing.

A three-member bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali resumed hearing of a suo motu case initiated by former CJP Saqib Nisar pertaining to losses incurred by the Pakistan Railways. During the course of proceedings, the bench expressed its displeasure with the Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed over running of the ministry. The chief justice asked the railways minister to inform the court about an October 2019 fire incident that had engulfed a train, killing 73 passengers when apparently a gas cylinder brought by one of the travellers had exploded. Sheikh Rashid responded that 75 people had been dismissed after the tragic incident.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed addressing the minister said that on Monday the court was informed that two people were fired and only gatekeepers and train drivers were removed. He asked when more senior officials would be dismissed.

Sheikh Rasheed responded that the ministry would also fire higher-place officials.

Chief Justice Ahmed remarked that the court was not seeing this happening as he (Rashid) was the highest ranking official.

Addressing the minister, the chiefjJustice said “Do not show dreams to people as an 18th century Railway system is running in the country and there is plundering in the railways department.”

Sheikh Rashid said that he was working 18 hours a day and had increased rail passengers by seven million.

Running on favours

The chief justice said that the entire railway system was running on favours even in 2020.

The railway minister said that the only solution to problems faced by Pakistan Railways was the ML-1 project which was a 14-year-old project, but had not yet been executed.

Rashid sought more time adding that he would resign if he does not meet the required standards.

The chief justice said that ML-1 was not a conjuring trick which would fix everything. He stressed that the entire department was politicised and nothing was functioning properly.

“The stations and railway tracks are not in order. The freight trains are also not operating,” he remarked. The CJP asked the minster to assess the situation of Karachi Circular Railways as well. “Being a seasoned politician, your performance should have been the best among the others, but your intuition is crumbling,” Justice Ahmed remarked.

Business plan

The chief justice said ideally revenue from railways should take the ministry out of debt and make it profitable.

The bench asked the minister to present a business plan in the next hearing, adding that if there was any deviation from the plan presented in the court, action would be taken. The court also ordered that the six-kilometre portion of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) be completed and instructed the Sindh government to provide all assistance on the project.

Later, the hearing of case was adjourned till February 12. Speaking to reporters outside the court, Rashid said he would take the railways forward as per the instructions of the chief justice. Rashid also clarified that the audit report referred to the Supreme Court earlier was an audit report from 2013-17, adding that their report had not yet been released. “When our audit report is released, then we are answerable. This is the audit report of the previous government,” he said.