Multiparty Conference Urges NAB To Probe BRT ‘corruption’

A multiparty conference held in Peshawar on Friday called on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to inquire into the alleged corruption of the Bus Rapid Transit project, the multibillion initiative that was launched in the city one and a half years ago. The attendees demanded a 10 year exemption for local traders affected by the BRT, and asked the Supreme Court to take a suo motu of the alleged misappropriation and mishandling of the taxpayers’ money.

JI provincial emir and Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan chaired the event. Prominent speakers included Pakistan People Party’s (PPP) Zulfiqar Afghani, Pakistan Muslim League’s (PML-N) Haroon Safaid, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Maulana Amanullah Haqqani, Haji Ghulam Ali and Abdul Jalil Jan, Qaumi Watan Party’s Malik Adeel Awan, Awami National Party’s Sartaj Khan, JI’s Haji Mohammad Hashmat, Khalid Ayub of the Peshawar Qaumi Jirga, trader leader Haji Mohammad Afzal, and Zafar Khattak. JI Peshawar district emir Ateequr Rehman, former minister Hafiz Hashmat Khan, JI youth wing president Siddiqur Rehman Paracha and other party leaders also attended the moot titled ‘Corruption in BRT project and Peshawar issues'.

The speakers stated that delay in the project completion had adversely affected the city’s commerce and local traders and urged the government to compensate the latter. They also unanimously endorsed a declaration urging punishment for those behind the delay and corruption in the project.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad said that JI initially had not been against BRT as it was a development project for the city. But that was before the project’s contract was awarded to a company on 25 percent commission, a violation of the rules, he alleged, calling for an impartial and thorough probe into the matter.