Islamabad (Digital Post) Minister of Railways\u2019 Nonsense and Railway Coaches<\/p>\n
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Pakistan Railways is not anyone\u2019s personal property; it is a national asset of the people of Pakistan. Its tracks, stations, workshops, engines, coaches and lands spread over vast areas are the property of the state and a trust of the people.<\/p>\n
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But unfortunately, looking at Pakistan Railways today, it seems as if it has become less of a national institution and more of a laboratory for administrative indifference, political interference, poor planning and experiments in contract management.<\/p>\n
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Mr. Hanif Abbasi, now is not the time for claims, but for accountability. The question from the public to the honourable minister is absolutely clear: You have been given the portfolio of Pakistan Railways, so now present a complete performance report of your tenure as minister before the public.<\/p>\n
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On the other hand, your performance claims regarding water, drainage and basic public issues in your constituency also do not appear to be meeting public expectations. Those who voted for you and placed their hopes in you are asking today: Where did those promises go and where is the practical work? Not only this, voices of concern and serious dissatisfaction are also being heard among the party\u2019s own workers regarding this style of performance.<\/p>\n
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How much railway land has been recovered? How many encroachments have been removed?<\/p>\n
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How many contracts were cancelled? How many new contracts were awarded?<\/p>\n
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Under what competitive process were they awarded?<\/p>\n
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How much income was generated from railway commercial assets?<\/p>\n
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How much land was leased, at what rate and to whom?<\/p>\n
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How much was spent on engines and coaches, and what was the result?<\/p>\n
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How much did the punctuality of trains improve?<\/p>\n
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How many accidents decreased?<\/p>\n
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Did passenger facilities actually improve?<\/p>\n
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If all these statistics are available, then what is the obstacle to placing them before the public instead of hiding them?<\/p>\n
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Because the public is no longer willing to merely hear:<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are doing a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
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What has been done, how much did it cost, through whom was it done, and what did the public receive? This is the real accountability.<\/p>\n
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Pakistan Railways is not a political laboratory. It needs people who know how to run the railway like a railway, not merely run a ministry. And if the interests of any minister, officer, contractor or influential person conflict with the interests of the national institution, then the decision should be absolutely clear:<\/p>\n
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The institution will remain, the people\u2019s money will remain \u2014 not the individual.<\/p>\n
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The tracks of Pakistan Railways still exist today.<\/p>\n
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The engines also exist.<\/p>\n
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The land also exists.<\/p>\n
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The stations also exist.<\/p>\n
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The passengers also exist.<\/p>\n
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Only one thing is felt to be severely lacking:<\/p>\n
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Such a strong, transparent and ruthless accountability administration that can determine that the railway is for the people.<\/p>\n
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Mr. Hanif Abbasi, when you came to the Ministry of Railways, big claims were made.<\/p>\n
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Mr. Hanif Abbasi was given the Ministry of Railways to run the railway, or merely to run the ministry?<\/p>\n
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A ministry is not merely the name of a chair; it is also a test of performance. If the honourable minister does not have satisfactory answers to these questions, then the party leadership will also have to think about whether merely political affiliation and office cannot be an alternative to failed performance.<\/p>\n
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Now a straightforward question arises for the honourable minister:<\/p>\n
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Sir, you were entrusted with a portfolio; you were not given a press conference microphone. The public wants figures and practical results, not speeches.<\/p>\n
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After taking charge of the ministry:<\/p>\n
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How many engines have you made fully operational?<\/p>\n
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How many new or refurbished coaches have you put into service?<\/p>\n
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How much has the punctuality of trains improved?<\/p>\n
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How many stations have actually been transformed?<\/p>\n
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By how much have passenger complaints decreased?<\/p>\n
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How much difference has there been in accidents?<\/p>\n
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If railway revenue has increased, then what is the operating cost and what is the net financial position?<\/p>\n
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How much land has been recovered?<\/p>\n
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How much land has been leased or licensed?<\/p>\n
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How many contracts were awarded, to whom, and at what price?<\/p>\n
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Where did the public benefit from this?<\/p>\n
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Because merely saying that the railway achieved record revenue is not enough. In 2025-26, the annual revenue of the railway was reported to be approximately Rs. 115.157 billion, but the same report also made it clear that the institution was still in deficit. Therefore, the public needs a complete account.<\/p>\n
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Now the time has come for not only trains to run on railway tracks, but also for the law, accountability and transparency to run.<\/p>\n
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Otherwise, the fear is that one day the railway tracks will remain, but the last coach of public trust will have already departed from the station.<\/p>\n
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The public wants a railway, not a railway press release.<\/p>\n
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The common man of Pakistan does not need to be told that the railway is progressing. The public itself will decide whether progress has been made or not.<\/p>\n
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When the train arrives on time, that will be progress.<\/p>\n
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When the engine does not fail on the way, that will be progress.<\/p>\n
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When basic facilities are available at the station, that will be progress.<\/p>\n
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When accidents decrease, that will be progress.<\/p>\n
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And when an account of every piece of railway land, every contract and every rupee is available, that will be transparency.<\/p>\n
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The stations, lands, contracts, engines, coaches and matters involving billions of rupees of Pakistan Railways remain continuously surrounded by questions. Questions are being raised over allegations of corruption and irregularities. The public is still asking:<\/p>\n
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The direct demand from the honourable minister is that the complete list of all parking, stalls, shops and commercial contracts of the past three years, the tendering procedure, details of bids, approved prices and the income received by the railway should be placed before the public.<\/p>\n
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There will be no questions if there is transparency; otherwise, the questions and consequences will continue to become more serious:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad (Digital Post) Minister of Railways\u2019 Nonsense and Railway Coaches Pakistan Railways is not anyone\u2019s personal property; it is a national asset of the people of Pakistan. Its tracks, stations, workshops, engines, coaches and lands spread over vast areas are the property of the state and a trust of the people. But unfortunately, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64981,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64980\/revisions\/64981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}