Across-the-board action against corrupt demanded

MARDAN: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice-president Nawabzada Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti on Friday said that he would challenge in Peshawar High Court (PHC) the amendments to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act.

“The federal and provincial governments should hold the corrupt accountable without any fear or favour,” he told a news conference here. Khwaja Hoti accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government of failing to bring about the promised change. “Corruption is still taking place contrary to the claims made by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak that his government had zero tolerance for corrupt practices,” he maintained.

The PML-N leader alleged that the KP government curtailed the powers of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) to prevent the anti-corruption body to expose the wrongdoings of the chief minister and some of his cabinet members.“The director general of the KPEC resigned in protest against the amendments to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act as the change in the law left the anti-corruption body toothless,” he asserted.

Though Khwaja Hoti lauded the provincial government for computerising the land record, he said it couldn’t provide relief to the people in the health sector.The former federal minister asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take action against all those who committed corruption and work out the cases pending with it.

He added the federal government had decided to amend the National Accountability Ordinance to protect “some thieves”. “It is the need of the hour that both federal and provincial governments should strengthen anti-graft bodies to rid the country of corruption,” he stressed.