Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif Saturday said that he would quit politics if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s Rs 10 billion bribe claim in the Panamagate was proven to be true.

“I will challenge the PTI’s allegations in court, and if it is found that even a rupee was offered to Imran Khan, I will resign and leave politics forever,” he said at a ceremony at the University of Sargodha.

“The government offered me Rs10 billion to stay mum on Panama case,” Khan had claimed on April 25.

The chief minister also announced increase of Rs five billion in the budget of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) from July 1st. He added that with the addition of Rs five billion, the total volume of endowment fund would increase to Rs 23 billion.

He also announced to constitute a committee for the quarterly development of the university, and said that on the recommendation of a committee, funds would be released to the university after every three months in proportionate with its development.

The chief minister said that he was committed to serving the people of Pakistan but a handful of political rivals wanted to create hurdles in the development of the country using unethical tactics.

“Imran Khan has been criticising me for making roads and running metro buses and now he has accused me of bribing him,” he added.

The PTI chairman has long been accusing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif – the top two faces of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – of involvement in corruption .

Speaking at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Peshawar on Monday, Khan had claimed that if the PML-N government could offer him such a huge amount of money, one could only imagine what it could have offered to the authorities investigating the Panamagate case.

Later on Friday, the PTI chief said at a rally in Islamabad that he would reveal the names of the people who had offered him Rs10 billion on behalf of the Sharif family in court.

Earlier, the chief minister had said that baseless allegations could not shatter his passion of public service. “Evil-minded elements, through their negative politics, have created a lot of hurdles in public welfare projects for their vested interests but people will again reject them in 2018 elections, as they did in 2013,” he added.

Shahbaz also inaugurated a foundation house in Sargodha on Saturday. He said that treatment of psychiatric patients should be done properly. The Punjab government, he said, had fully supported such institutions and would continue to do so. He said that serving such patients, who are considered as burden by their own families, was a great virtue.

He expressed satisfaction over educational, training and residential facilities for psychiatric patients at the fountain house. The chief minister was told that the fountain house was set up in 2015, where 50 patients are getting education and training facilities. Dr Amjad briefed the chief minister on performance of the institution.