PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak has said that the lust for power, rampant corruption and irregularities were the root causes of institutional decadence and the backwardness of our society.
This unfortunate country was ruled by the corrupt political elite, and they cannot escape the blame for bringing the country to the present situation.
He was addressing a 100 member Jirga of whose members have switched from their respective political parties and announced joining Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) at the CM House Peshawar.
The CM regretted the presence of those politicians who promoted corruption and were out there to hoodwink the innocent again.
He accused the corrupt politicians corrupting the entire political culture leading the country to total devastation. He said that the corrupt political elite has abused their authority through illegal transfers and postings of doctors and teachers and hence promoted politics in institutions that rendered the institutions dysfunctional and the system undeliverable.
They promoted the politics of deceit, making false promises with mismatched words and actions, he added. He said a society that stands on injustice could not sustain for long. The people got fed up with the previous rulers and exercised their vote for PTI in the previous elections.
Pervez Khattak said that PTI chairman was against the corrupt politicians. The CM dubbed Nawaz Sharif as “corrupt” who he said was jostled out of power. He lashed out at Awami National Party (ANP) under the leadership of Asfandyar Yar Khan and criticized his previous government’s performance under Haider Hoti.
This province was ruled by corrupt elements in the past where one party deceived the people of KP, and the other party used the slogan of Roti (bread), Kapra (cloths) and Makan (house) in Sindh.
Talking about the Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N), Khattak said that they are a product of dictatorial regime.
Chief Minister reminded the people that the rulers were accountable to them. He reiterated that the people should know about their right to question the credentials and the conduct of the government. He said that our government has passed a variety of legislation to bring the transparency and eliminate corruption. PTI was working on a tougher turf to eliminate terrorism and we are glad that the people are appreciating the performance of our government, he added.
Pervez Khattak said that he inherited all wrongs in the whole governance structure. Public sector institutions were in total disarray and there were hurdles in the delivery process. The elite was the beneficiary and the poor had to go from post to pillar to get their rights.
He said that now the poor was the focus of government’s all-out efforts and the poor was the end beneficiary. He also talked about the past approach of politicizing the public sector institutions including police and Patwar system and dwelt at length on his government’s efforts for the rectification.
He said his government initiated sehat Insaf (health justice) card for the treatment of poor and distributed 14 lac Sehat Insaf Cards among those who cannot support their health-related problems. This year, he added, another 10 lac Sehat Insaf Cards are to be distributed that will bring subsidized the healthcare to a great percentage of the provincial population.
Pervez Khattak said for the transparency and openness, his government introduced e-tendering and e-bidding; police were depoliticized eliminating the third-degree methods in Thanas(police stations); the Patwar (land recording) system was revamped and laws introduced to lock down corrupt practices.
Chief Minister was vociferous that this country was destined to be ruled by honest leadership like Imran Khan who always called a spade a spade, who would never make compromises and who could not be forced to take steps against the interest of the people.
He said the politics is about serving the people with honesty and he would always continue showing zero tolerance to corruption.