PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan Saturday termed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Swat as disappointing and a flop show as he didn’t announce withdrawal of the customs act - the most pressing demand of the people.
In his address to a public gathering and an earlier press conference here, the JI leader said that people of Swat were deceived through inauguration of those projects, which had been completed years ago.
He said the anti-corruption campaign started by the party had entered into a crucial stage and they would take the drive to its logical conclusion and would rid the country of the menace of corruption.
The train march against corruption from Peshawar to Karachi would be started from the provincial capital with a public gathering at the Cantt Railway Station on May 25. He said the march would be led by JI central chief Sirajul Haq.
The gathering was also addressed by district chief of the party Shabbir Hussain Awan, while provincial vice-president Noorul Haq and senior minister Inayatullah Khan were also present.
The JI leader said the drive against corruption started by them three months ago had turned into a strong movement in the country. During the campaign, some big scams of corruption have been unearthed and arrests have been made, he said.
He claimed that the arrests of officials of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), finance secretary in Balochistan, a director in the foreign office and action against army officers were an outcome of their campaign. He termed corruption as a bigger threat than all conventional threats. “Corruption is even bigger threat than India and the US,” he added.
He said that corruption was a threat to the integrity and sovereignty of the country.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar himself had admitted that the country was facing loans amounting to Rs18,000 billion, of which Rs13,000 billion were internal loans and Rs5,000 billion foreign loans, he said, adding that the volume of loans had increased so much that more loans were taken for payment of the interests of the existing loans.
He said that according to the NAB statistics, corruption of Rs13 to 20 billion was done in the country on a daily basis. “If the corrupt practices are overcome, the country will get rid of loans and achieve fast-track development,” he argued. He said that despite such a huge amount of loans and tall claims of the rulers, 45 percent people in the country were living below the poverty line. “Over 20 million people have no access to school. Majority of the population have no access to health facilities,” he said.