Malik Riaz Hussain Exclusive Interview with... by Bahrianews
Talking in Geo News programme Jirga, he said he had nothing to do with Ayyan Ali money laundering case. He said he has not gifted Bilawal House to former president Asif Ali Zardari, whom he declared his “friend at heart”. He said he has no partnership with anybody including Zardari.
Riaz said he has not given money or property to any journalist, adding that he has not got any journalist out of any media house. He said he played a role in ending the sit-ins against the government. He called Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar a great man. He said he wished to be known as “welfare tycoon” after death.
Programme host Salim Safi asked straight and direct questions from Malik Riaz, who said he was among the top 100 highest taxpayers of the country. He said people richer than him also reside in the country. He appealed to the rich to spend their money on the poor.
He said he started his journey from Rawalpindi and the people of Pakistan have been updated on his job, poverty and progress journey. He said when he had nothing, he used to offer food to nine people in a small hotel in Rawalpindi and now 250,000 people eat from the Bahria Dastarkhwan daily.
He said bribe had to be paid for getting jobs done in Pakistan. He said bribe is not paid to the president or the prime minister but it is paid at the lower level where jobs are stuck. He said he has never worked with any bank or the government all through his life, adding that he has never done politics. He said they are not land grabbers; rather, they are caught in the web of land grabbing mafia. He said the mafia blackmails them on daily basis. He said the NAB and Supreme Court have probed his cases but his illegal occupation on one single kanal of land could not be proved.
He said to invest outside Pakistan is ‘Haram for him’. He said he had flats outside Pakistan but he has not made investment worth a single rupee abroad. He said he has never gone to the president or the prime minister for personal interest. His relations with the rulers, he said, aim at betterment of the country.
He said progress is not possible without political stability. He said he never met or talked on telephone with former army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani. He said Gen Kayani’s brother won a small contract 10 years ago but he later left it incomplete.
He said he was opening Bahria Towns in KP and Balochistan and he wanted to take his project to all cities of the country. He said he wanted his country to progress like Europe, the US and Dubai. He said he wants to work in Peshawar but the KP government is not letting him do it.
He said the construction industry can create jobs in the country. He said he has not bought a single inch of the state land in Sindh. He said he bought land from people in Karachi. He claimed he was being blackmailed in the Arsalan Iftikhar case but the God saved him.
He said it was the job of the government to create a corruption-free country. He said Pakistan could not have a leader though it had many rulers. He said Bahria Town is the biggest advertiser and he has good relations with all media owners but never got any anchor out of a channel.
He said the number of media programmes against him may surpass those against the prime ministers. He said he played his role in ending the sit-ins against the government as he believes that the government should complete its term. He said he sent food for the participants of the sit-ins but he is not linked with them.
About the role in ending the sit-in of Dr Tahirul Qadri, he said he should not be asked the questions about which he could neither speak the truth nor tell a lie. He said whatever he has done is for the betterment of the country and he would continue doing it in the future too.
He said he has proposed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif form a welfare council comprising businessmen as the government alone could not resolve all problems. He said the council, utilising its own resources, can help the government resolve problems related to health and education.
He said he has not gifted the Bilawal House to Zardari. Rs170 million for the house have been paid and the rest will be paid. He said he has nothing to do with Ayyan Ali money laundering case and he is not trying to save her. He said he prays that the Almighty bring peace and prosperity to the country.
He said the construction industry can create jobs and creation of jobs can help control terrorism and unemployment. He said the people have Rs30 billion cash in Pakistan. He said the situation can be improved with the efforts of hardworking people like Shahbaz Sharif.
He said those allotted plots in DHA Islamabad will start getting possession in December and Bahria Town will build the adjacent Dadocha Dam, for which negotiations with the Punjab chief minister have been held.
