ISLAMABAD – The nominees of the PPP and the PML-N are set to meet today (Tuesday) with the latter already conveying its doubts to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the inclusion of tainted ministers in the PPP committee holding talks to eliminate corruption.
A PML-N source informed Pakistan Today that Nawaz Sharif had conveyed his party’s reservations over the inclusion of three corrupt ministers in his team, including Raja Parvez Ashraf, Babar Awan, and Naveed Qamar.
“The nomination of members of the committee is solely a prerogative of the prime minister. We have already conveyed our concerns but we did not make it public to avoid controversies. If we made the committee formation an issue, this could have been resulted in a deadlock, which we wanted to avoid,” he added.
“The meeting would seek ways and means and would also chalk out priorities. We think the formation of the accountability commission and the Accountability Bill are two steps which could be taken immediately,” said PML-N spokesman Asim Khan. He said the meeting would also fianlise recommendations for parliamentary oversight over the appointment of heads of public sector enterprises.
However, political analyst Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi said the PPP and PML-N leaders were making political point scoring and none was committed to the national cause. “This is unfortunate to note that both – Gilani and Nawaz – are deceiving each other.
They actually know that neither the corruption can be uprooted within 45 days nor are they serious. Moreover, all the points of Nawaz’s agenda are general and can’t be achieved in two years, as nothing specific has been mentioned in it. So Nawaz is not sincere,” he added.
Rasool Baksh Rais, a professor at LUMS, said the PPP government was “willfully” involved in corrupt practices due to which national institutions were crippling. “I think Nawaz knows this fact that this PPP government is not going to prosecute itself and that’s why he is just trying to expose them. He is not trying to stop this corruption, he is exposing them,” he added.
