Muzaffarabad, July 31: As the Peoples Party has just completed one year of its rule in Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK), schism within its ranks has become an open secret with former Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mahmood building up his allegations of “corruption by the government.”
 On Tuesday, Mahmood came out with what he claimed as documentary evidence of the Jinnah Model Town Housing Scheme (Mirpur) scam and said it had lent credence to his apprehensions that the present PaK setup was hell-bent on making money from unfair means.
 According to him, the Mirpur Development Authority (MDA) on July 25 had awarded a contract of Rs 2.6 billion project through notification number 1070-74-D 00/12 to a particular construction company without the formal approval of secretary works. A cheque of Rs 150 million had been paid to the said company as ‘mobilization advance’ and another cheque, amounting Rs 200 million, was being prepared, he said.
 Mahmood pointed out that a person who had entered into plea-bargain with the PaK accountability bureau had been appointed as MDA’s head while another official, who was initially suspended by the present government, was appointed as MDA’s member technical, which he said spoke volumes for the designs of the present setup.
 “The Jinnah Town scam is tip of the iceberg and in the coming days I will unearth more cases of corruption by the PaK rulers,” he said.
 He said that some six weeks ago he had informed the PPP central leadership about the “acts of corruption” in PaK ago besides forewarning them that “in default of any action I will  be left with no choice but to react and go the public.” However, when asked as to how the PaK rulers could dare go against the advice of their central leadership, he maintained that their involvement in corruption was so deep that they were not ready to listen to anyone.
 Mahmood denied that he had reached at a point of no return and instead expressed optimism that the central leadership would intervene to save the image of the party and its government in PaK.
 “I am part of the government and the party and what I am doing is for the party’s goodwill,” he claimed.
 “I want a corruption free society. I will not let the party buried in the coffin of corruption.”
 It may be recalled that Mahmood had led the Peoples Party government in PaK from 1996-2001. However, when the party clinched victory in last year’s general election in PaK he could not regain the blessings of its top leadership which chose Chaudhry Abdul Majeed for the coveted office of the prime minister.
 When contacted, Prime Minister Majeed rejected allegations of corruption against his government and without taking the name of Mahmood said if anyone had any proof he should present it at the forum of parliamentary party, legislative assembly or the competent courts “instead of raising hue and cry at the public meetings.”
 “I want to forget the bitterness of the past but the public knows very well the worth of those who are propagating about alleged corruption in PaK and hurling abuses on me,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 1 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST