ISLAMABAD
Grilling the government for its inability to nab the corrupt officials, PML-N Secretary Information Ahsan Iqbal, on Wednesday said that the government did not establish any accountability department to watch over corrupt politicians under the government’s wings.
Addressing a press conference on the Transparency International report, Ahsan Iqbal said that due to the corrupt practices of the government, Pakistan had jumped eight steps in the most corrupt nations list. He also demanded the formation of an all-parties parliamentary committee, which could finalize its suggestions within one month, for the eradication of corruption in various government departments.
“We will not allow for further plunder in government corporations. The government must stop this, otherwise we are going to launch a decisive movement inside the parliament, similar with the LFO that forced a military dictator to quit the power corridors,” said the PML-N leader.
He also called upon the government to get a consensus Accountability Bill passed in the next National Assembly session scheduled to start from November 1. Ahsan also expressed grave concerns over the State Bank index, saying that the economic meltdown is touching an extreme low.
He said that due to rulers corrupt practices the foreign debts were mounting which were resulting into negative effects on the private sector development.
“During the past two and a half years Pakistan received a severe economic blow, while India and Bangladesh multiplied their GDP growth,” he added.
Criticizing the appointment of NAB chairman, Iqbal said that the appointment of Justice Deedar Hussain Shah was made to safeguard the corrupt practices of the incumbent regime.
He added that the government could no longer take shelter behind the mistakes of former president Musharraf. He said that the media, civil society and the opposition had been raising corruption issues during the past two years but the government paid no heed to their calls, adding that because of the stern steps taken by the PML-N, the ratio of corruption was lower in Punjab as compared to the other three provinces.
While citing President Obama’s telephone call to President Zardari, Iqbal termed Gilani a ‘dummy’ prime minister, saying that he could not prove to be the chief executive of the country under the 18th amendment, as the president was still enjoying supreme power.
