Movement vital to make corrupt elements accountable, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan said on Thursday that at 63, he was not fond of scaling a container, but the movement for accountability of the corrupt was vital to motivating the masses to rise against the corrupt rulers having offshore assets and issuing conflicting statements thereon.

He said that through the proposed movement, the PTI wanted to make the state institutions proactively functioning. “I am not fond of scaling a container in this sweltering heat. But if we do not go to masses and take along political forces, the rulers will drag the issue of PanamaLeaks,” Imran explained. Speaking to media persons here at the Insaf Professionals Forum, Imran said if they did not sensitise and motivated the public against the rampant menace of corruption, the rulers would gradually put the issue of PanamaLeaks under the carpet so that masses did not remember about their corruption.

He charged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had totally ignored the masses and parliament on the demand for addressing their concerns by not offering himself for accountability vis-a-vis the revelations made in the PanamaLeaks.

The rulers, he alleged, would again start corruption  under the garb of mega projects and shift their booty abroad, as they had done in the past. “Corruption has ruined the country,” he said.

The PTI chief alleged that the contradictory statements by the prime minister, his children and ministers had made it very clear to all and sundry that lies were being told to the nation. He pointed out that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had spoken the truth by saying that the Sharif family had assets abroad.

About the possibility of an investigation into the revelations made with regards to the prime minister’s children, the PTI chairman claimed that the premier was not ready to accept the opposition’s terms of reference, as he knew, if he did so, he would be caught. “An innocent person has nothing to worry about being held accountable. I have done nothing wrong and my name is also not in the Panama Papers yet I have offered myself for accountability,” he noted.

Imran alleged that Nawaz Sharif was going for mega projects to shift a big chunk of funds abroad while half of Punjab’s budget was being spent on Lahore only, whereas 70 percent projects were being awarded to a specific company and hence the nation was being looted in every possible way.

The PTI chief pointed out that audit of mega projects, including metro bus and orange train, would expose how the national wealth was looted and shifted abroad. He noted corruption at lower level caused inconvenience to the people but the menace at the top ruined the entire system.

About the statements of some of the federal cabinet ministers, Imran charged that the prime minister’s ministers were eroding the nation’s morality and added that Pakistan stood at the critical juncture of its history and was being pushed towards total bankruptcy. “We need to reverse this dangerous course and require motivating the professionals,” he emphasised.

He asked had the National Accountability Bureau ever arrested any big corrupt figure and replied himself in the negative, saying an independent and credible accountability body was crucial to elimination of corruption from Pakistan and this was the approach, many countries, including Singapore, had adopted to deal with the menace.