ARD files reference against Musharraf

Staff Report<>/i

LAHORE: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has filed a reference against President Pervez Musharraf, alleging that he misused his office for facilitating his son Bilal Musharraf’s father-in-law.

ARD Deputy Information Secretary Munir Ahmad Khan gave copies of the reference to reporters on Monday, saying that the president abused his authority by giving Brig (r) Aftab Siddiqui, the father-in-law of his son Bilal Musharraf, the contracts of a multi-million train project and the multi-billion Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway project. The reference has been filed under Section 18 of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 1999.

He said that President Musharraf gave the contract for the world’s first Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) commercial train in Karachi to Mr Siddiqui, alleging that Musharraf’s relative would pocket almost $300 million by building the super-fast Maglev track. He added that the Maglev project was not given to him on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis but on ownership basis.

The ARD official added that a 450-megawatt gas-fired power plant and a $100 million real estate development commercial loan for the Maglev project would be guaranteed by the Pakistani government. Mr Khan alleged that the machinery for the train project would also be exempt from customs or other taxes.

He requested the NAB chairman to initiate proceedings against President Musharraf for abusing his position to oblige his relatives.