Govt, opposition don’t want accountability: Siraj

LAHORE: JI ameer Senator Sirajul Haq said both government and so-called opposition are plunderers of public resources and they don’t want accountability whereas the nation wants a ruthless and across the board accountability.

“As long as the corrupt among the ruling elite and the opposition were there, welfare of the masses and the development and progress of the country would remain a dream,” he said while addressing the Lahore High Court Bar on Tuesday.

President Lahore High Court Bar Association Rana Zia Abdur Rahman welcomed the JI chief on the occasion. Secretary Bar, Anas Ghazi, spoke on the occasion. Justice (retd) Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ansari, Ch Khalid Farooq, and JI deputy chiefs Asadullah Bhutto and Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha were present.

Sirajul Haq said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared on TV thrice to clarify his position on Panama Leaks and presented himself for accountability but he had not appeared before the court even once. He said lawyers had played historic role in Pakistan Movement and ending dictatorship in the country, and it was time they came forward for eradication of corruption and bringing forth an honest and sincere leadership in the country. He said lawyers’ movement had thrown out Pervez Musharraf and the present rulers had become a threat to the country’s geographical and ideological boundaries.

He said the government and democracy in the country were in the hands of political pundits and international establishment. The true representatives of the masses could not reach the corridors of power during the last seventy years. The disciples of the British and the US slaves ruling the country so far had been pursuing the strategy of divide and rule. They had kept the nation split in racial, ethnic and sectarian grouping and shattered the national unity and cohesion. The present anarchy and dissent was the result of their policies.

Sirajul Haq said unjust distribution of country’s resources and complete disregard of merit had promoted terrorism in the country. When talented young men were denied their right, they got frustrated and were ready to kill others and become suicide bombers, he said. He said provision of education, health justice and employment to the masses was the constitutional obligation of the government but no government so far had paid attention to these. The masses were disappointed and were in search of a savior, he said.

The JI chief said present and the past rulers had looted the national wealth with both hands, and deposited the plundered money abroad. He said he wanted across the board accountability including that of the prime minster. Sirajul Haq said everybody wanted a change but a change would not come with the change of rulers and government. A change was possible only by bringing forward a neat and clean leadership to power. And to achieve this goal, everybody must change himself/ herself, he added. He was confident that a record number of Lahorites besides the lawyers would attend the JI’s march against corruption in the city on March 30.

Later, Senator Sirajul Haq condemned the terrorist attack in Quetta. He expressed deep sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for the martyrs. He also prayed for the lawyers martyred in Quetta about two months back besides those killed in Mardan, and other places.