Sharif brothers' witch-hunt and vendetta will backfire one day, says ex-Punjab CM

Islamabad, June 24 : Alleging that the Sharif brothers were engaging in witch-hinting and 'targeting' his family members, former Punjab province chief minister Pervaiz Elahi has challenged Nawaz Sharif and his brother and Punjab Chief Minister to make public the details of their secret funds.

He warned Shahbaz that the "targeted victimisation drive" launched against his family and the party colleagues would backfire "the way the victimisation of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari by the Sharifs had bounced back 10 years ago".

He said the charges leveled against him and the bureaucrats working with him were "ridiculous and carry no substance". Responding to the PML-N's accusations that he misused his authority as the chief minister, Elahi said: "This devilish drive will backfire one day, as the Sharifs have learnt no lesson from their exile."

About investigation into the land grabbing allegations regarding the Lahore Ring Road project, Elahi said he had done nothing wrong regarding that project. "The project design was developed by one Turner, who heads an international company. We did not deviate a single inch from the original design," The News quoted him as saying.

Regarding allegations of corruption in the Punjab Bank matters, he maintained that the bank was running into loss of Rs 250 million per annum when he took over as chief minister. In November 2007, when the caretaker regime took over, he said, the bank had a profit of Rs12 billion.

On the financial scam in the Punjab Bank and the NAB investigations, Elahi said it was actually he himself who had first asked Hamesh Khan, the bank president, to investigate into the alleged misconduct by some low-level bank employees. "The FIRs were registered during my government and the NAB was asked to look into the matter. My family has no account in the bank and no loans were issued by my orders."

"The Nawaz regime filed false cases against Benazir and Zardari during the 90s. They are repeating the same mistake now," he added.

ANI