Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday lamented double standards of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for inaction in embezzlement of long-delayed Bab-e-Pakistan project in Lahore.
The premier was addressing a ceremony after laying the foundation stone of the project. Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials were present on the occasion.
Under the project, a memorial will be built on Walton Road in the Punjab capital by establishing a museum, auditorium, art gallery and library to commemorate the sacrifices of those who left their homes to live in Pakistan during the independence of 1947. The project, which was first proposed by the late Governor Ghulam Jilani Khan in 1985 and approved by then president Ziaul Haq, has not been completed as of 2023 despite the attempts made by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1991 and the late retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.
PM Shehbaz said the project was subject to plunder but the anti-graft watchdog did not call anyone for investigation. The premier said he stopped the import of marble worth Rs900 million and issued order for use of local marble in the Bab-e-Pakistan project. He said the NAB targeted innocent people and put them behind the bars but no action was taken against those involved in corruption in the project. Such dual standards pushed Pakistan on the verge of collapse, he decried.
“I want to know the reason for not holding accountability of people in this important project,” he stressed, adding that the Bab-e-Pakistan project had been delayed for 20 to 25 years. He hoped that the NLC would complete the project with its tireless efforts.
Speaking on the occasion, Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said the site for the national monument provided the first home under the open sky for the hundreds of thousands of refugees who migrated from their home to Pakistan in 1947. He said the PML-N in its every tenure took steps to complete the project.
