Country suffers $14 bln losses in aftermath of Panamagate verdict: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Paying a visit to ‘Sasta Bazaar’ to express solidarity with shopkeepers and stall owners in aftermath of the fire incident here, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said that matters like ‘Dawn Leaks’ are dead issues in current political scenario while laying emphasis on national integrity and economic development.

“The country bore a loss of $14 billion in the wake of Panamagate verdict and it’s time to lift the economic activities,” he asserted while talking to media persons.

He said stirring up political instability and leg-pulling in politics for power would inevitably result in hampering ongoing development projects and economic stability in the country

The federal minister was visiting ‘Sasta Bazaar’ where over 600 shops were gutted in fire at Islamabad’s Sector H/9 on Wednesday morning.

On the occasion, Iqbal said that he would request the Prime Minister to announce a relief package for the shop and stall owners.

Officials after the blaze incident, said that the fire might have spread after locals lit up garbage – generally done to discard it – which engulfed nearby stalls as wind causing the fire to spread.

Assistant Director Fire and Rescue Islamabad Rizwan Sarwar while talking to ARY News, confirmed that many shops in the garment section of the Bazaar were completely burnt by the blaze.

The site hosts a weekly budget market, situated at Sector H-9 near Peshawar Morr of the capital city. A large number of residents visit the Bazaar.