Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari resigned from his post on Monday amid allegations levelled against him in the Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project scam.

In a series of tweets, the SAPM said he was stepping down until his name was cleared of ‘any allegations and media’s obnoxious lies’ regarding the case. He recalled Prime Minister Imran Khan as saying that “if a person has been named rightly or wrongly in any inquiry, he should cease to hold any public office till his name has been cleared of charges.” “Owing to the allegations in ongoing Ring Road inquiry, I want to set this example by resigning from office until my name is cleared up of any allegations and media’s obnoxious lies,” he posted on his Twitter handle.

Bukhari reiterated that he has nothing to do with the Ring Road or any other ongoing real estate project. “This time the inquiry should be done by capable personnel, I endorse a judicial inquiry,” he said. “I’m here to stay in Pakistan and stand united with the prime minister and his vision,” he stressed. “I sacrificed my life overseas to come and serve my country, I am ready to face any inquiry,” he added.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered a full-fledged inquiry into the scam after which the Punjab government decided to send the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) or the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for thorough investigation.

The decisions were taken as two fact-finding reports – one by the Rawalpindi commissioner and the other by the deputy commissioner – landed at the prime minister office, with the second report hinting that the project had been realigned with the approval of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and his finance adviser Dr Salman Shah.

However, the PML-N demanded action against the relevant authorities for approving the ring road’s realignment, asserting that neither Chief Minister Buzdar and Prime Minister Imran nor ‘direct beneficiaries’ such as cabinet members Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Zulfi Bukhari should be exempted.

Meanwhile, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has directed NAB Rawalpindi to probe alleged corruption of billions of rupees, irregularities, and illegal land acquisition in the Rawalpindi Ring Road project. According to a NAB spokesman, the chairman ordered director general NAB Rawalpindi to cover all aspects of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project in the probe so that the responsibility could be fixed and culprits could be punished in accordance with the law.

Meanwhile, on the direction of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, the inquiry of the Rawalpindi Ring Road scandal has been assigned to DG anti-corruption with direction to submit a comprehensive report. In this regard, a spokesman of the Punjab government has stated the DG ACE has been directed to constitute a committee, having relevant experts, to probe the matter. “The policy of zero-tolerance is followed against corruption and the corrupt will not escape from their logical end. All the characters involved in the Rawalpindi Ring Road scandal will meet their logical end,” the spokesman added.