He said that Pervaiz Elahi had been raising slogan for electing Musharraf ten times in uniform and now he is publishing false advertisements in newspapers for electing Zardari. He expressed these views while addressing a press conference along with Provincial Minister for Auqaf, Haji Ehsan-ud-Din Qureshi here on Sunday. Chairman Quran Board Ghulam Muhammad Sialvi was also present on the occasion.
Pervaiz Rashid said that Deputy Prime Minister Pervaiz Elahi fixed plaque of his name on various projects during his tenure as Chief Minister but left them incomplete, there are a number of such projects for which payments were made to the contractors but they fled abroad. He said the money which Pervaiz Elahi got through corruption and giving advertisements will be recovered from him. Pervaiz Elahi has himself admitted that he has saved the PPP government by making alliance with Asif Zardari, he added. He said that Deputy Prime Minister should also give advertisements against lawlessness, unemployment, target killings and 20 hours long power outages, contrary to it, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif completed the incomplete projects left by Pervaiz Elahi within shortest period which included Lahore-Kasur Road, Lahore Ring Road and Thokhar Niaz Beg overhead bridge.
Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that the picture of Quran Board and Seerat Acadmy which is being shown by Pervaiz Elahi in the advertisement has been downloaded from computer. On this occasion, he also showed the pictures of incomplete building of Quran Academy and the complete building to the journalists. He said that present government got approved the Punjab Quran Printing and Recording Act in 2011 under which publication of Holy Quran on substandard and poor quality paper has been prohibited and permission of publication on at least 52 gram offset paper has been given.
Giving briefing to the journalists Provincial Minister for Auqaf, Haji Ehsan-ud-Din Qureshi informed that purpose of the press conference is to present the real contents of the advertisement published in the newspapers about the projects of Quran Complex and Seerat Academy. He said that reply to these advertisements could be given through advertisements but as this matter relates to the Holy Quran, therefore, present Punjab government does not consider it proper to use it for personal or political interests and also condemns using the projects started for the Holy Quran or any other religious purpose for personal or political interests.
Qureshi said that this wrong statement is a nefarious effort to incite the religious sentiments, therefore, it was considered necessary that the facts should be conveyed to the masses through media. He said that according to the facts, Quran Complex and Seerat Academy project was approved in 2006 at an estimated cost of Rs394.7 million for which Ch Pervaiz Elahi during his tenure released only Rs93.0 million. Haji Ehsan ud Din Qureshi told that the present Punjab government revised this project for making it more useful and a revised estimate of Rs502 million was approved. He said that on the direction of Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, present Punjab government has released Rs332 million for this project so far. He said that if the funds released are compared, the present government released 250 percent more funds than the previous government.
Chairman Quran Board Ghulam Muhammad Sialvi said that Pervaiz Elahi got approved Women Protection Act which was against the teachings of Quran and Sunnah during his tenure and made corruption of 55 years in five years and left the projects incomplete whereas Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif completed all incomplete projects within record period.