Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A politician already under trial in the notorious ‘ephedrine case’, alleged for massive mismanagements in the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project and also known for switching party loyalty in the past Hanif Abbasi has once again been rewarded by being appointed as chairman of a provincial steering committee on establishment of play fields and sports grounds across the Punjab.

A notification issued by the Chief Minister’s Office in this regard stated that besides the chairmanship, the Provincial Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs and Minister for Planning and Development will be the part of same committee as co-chairmen.

The Secretary Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs and Secretary Ministry of Planning & Development will be the member of this committee while the Director General Sports Punjab will serve this committee as Secretary.

Favours to the aforementioned defeated candidate for the membership of parliament in the general elections of 2013 is a no secret anymore as instead of his alleged involvement in one of the notorious scam ephedrine case, earlier the ruling party had appointed him as the head of the Metro Bus Project in Rawalpindi-Islamabad and now he has been blessed with the chairmanship of this committee.

The journey of Mr. Abbasi in national politics had started back in 2002, when he had successfully defeated the nephew of Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed in the bye-elections from NA-56 on the ticket of Mutehada Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religious parties.

He switched his loyalty with his parent party Jamaat-e-Islami in the general elections of 2008 and won the seat on the ticket of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, but he had lost his same seat in the elections of 2013, when Imran Khan himself contested the elections from this seat.

Soon after the establishment of the PML-N’s government at the centre and the Punjab, he had been compensated by appointing him as a Chairman of the Metro Bus Authority, where he was badly exposed as the said project failed to meet three consecutive deadlines of its completion while corruption of billions was also reported by the media in this project.

Moreover, some newly constructed metro bus stations, worth millions of rupees, could not even withstand the heavy monsoon showers and were flooded with rainwater.

Meanwhile, this member of the ruling party was also accused of misappropriating 500kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine, obtained in 2010, and allegedly selling it to narcotics smugglers.

“The question here is why the government again and again appoints a person on important tasks, who is already accused of corruption while ignoring old loyal and high reputed party leaders from Rawalpindi”, a local leader of PML-N Rawalpindi’s chapter said on the condition of anonymity.

The said committee is mandated to oversee the identification of sites and progress of implementation/execution of schemes related to play fields and sports grounds whereas the chairman of the said committee has been directed to physically visit the sites and conduct meetings in this regards.

The notification further directs all the concerned officers and the departments to provide full support to the committee especially the committee chairman.

When contacted, Hanif Abbasi, for his response on new appointment, his driver picked the phone call and informed that he was unavailable to answer.