Siraj demands across-the-board accountability

Offshore holdings

KHAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq on Saturday said that all those named in the Panama Leaks should be held accountable.

Speaking at a public meeting against corruption and Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) at the Bajaur Sports Complex here, the JI chief said that those named in the Panama Papers should be held accountable whether they were in government or opposition.

He called for early formation of a probe commission to investigate the leaks. Senator Sirajul Haq also urged for the abolishment of the draconian FCR law.

He said the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) should be made a separate province or merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The future of Fata should be decided as per the aspiration of the tribespeople,” he added.

He said the tribespeople were sick of the draconian FCR law.

He said the tribespeople rendered matchless sacrifices for the country but lamented that successive governments did nothing to ease their sufferings. He added that the majority of tribespeople supported merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He maintained that infrastructure in the tribal areas had been destroyed in militancy and military campaigns against them.

He urged the federal government to announce Rs500 billion special package for the rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure in Fata.

Provincial Finance Minister Muzaffar Said and JI provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan also spoke on the occasion.