You can fool all the people some of the time,… says GM

ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: The war of words between member provincial assembly (MPA) from lower Chitral Salim Khan and former MPA Ghulam Muhammad has intensified with the two archrivals taking a dig at each after the former jumped into the bandwagon of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) last week. The barrage of massive corruption allegations started surfacing after the duo pointed fingers at each other but none of them bowing to the pressure for one reason or the other, threatening each other with legal notices and declaring themselves as champion of underdogs. Talking to ChitralToday on phone from Chitral on Friday night, Ghulam Muhammad said Salim Khan had alleged that he (GM) had obtained a bail before arrest (BBA) after an FIR was registered against him for corruption. “I want the copies of the BBA and the FIR from Salim Khan otherwise I would send him a legal notice of Rs100 million.” He said he had the contract of only one portion of the girls’ college Booni building in 2003-04 which he completed in 2009 and handed it over to the authorities after a satisfactory inspection by officials of both the C&W and education departments. “I can’t even think of any dishonesty as far as the construction of a school is concerned because I want my daughters to get quality education at their doorsteps. I used best materials in the construction of the college building and then the department issued a completion certificate to me after inspection in presence of the building experts,” he maintained. The former MPA also seemed visibly perturbed over the allegations of wheat smuggling to Afghanistan, saying he had no contract in food, irrigation, C&W or any other department after 2007, adding he quit business which he started back in 1978 just to serve the masses. He questioned why the PPP MPA, who was ruling the roost as a provincial minister at that time, did not take action against him if he was sure that wheat was being smuggled to Afghanistan and illegal tenders were being issued in his party government by an opposition lawmaker. The former MPA also claimed that it was sheer luck that Salim Khan retained his provincial assembly seat as Sartaj Ahmed and Shahzada Aman were also in the run as independent candidates for PK-89 lower Chitral seat. “The PPP is going to be wiped out from Chitral due to people like Mr Salim and company who have tarnished the image of the party by doing nothing for welfare of people but minted money…your corruption also negated the services done by late Molvi Muhammad Wali, late Ghafoor Shah and people like Zainul Abideen,” he added. According to Ghulam Muhammad, Golen Gol and Drosh water supply schemes were approved in 2005 while Salim Khan became member provincial assembly in 2008 but the way he cut the ribbons to take credit for an ongoing project speaks volume how he befools people by inaugurating projects which had nothing to do with him. About the newly-construed bungalow in Sinlasht by Salim Khan, he said if the house was owned by Salim Khan’s brother what was the need to declare it in his asset details submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan. “Oh come on Salim Khan, have some guts to face the reality…you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” he said, with a big laughter.]]>