Accountability of all plunderers inevitable: Siraj

LAHORE

Jamaat-i-Islami Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq said the PML-N government was badly stuck in the Panama Leaks mire and its countdown had started.

Rulers are the custodians of the people’s trusts but if they begin to gulp public money, destruction of society could not be avoided, he said while talking to a JI Balochistan delegation in Mansoora on Monday.

Sirajul Haq said accountability of all the plunderers was inevitable. He said that unless and until the rulers accepted the facts, returned the plundered wealth, and also sought an apology from the nation, the matter would not be over. The JI chief said it was the responsibility of the federal government to ensure transparency of the CPEC by removing the apprehensions and reservations of the smaller provinces. He said the importance of the CPEC was undisputed but ejecting the local population and settling the outsiders there was unacceptable and it would also create hatred for the federation. He declared that nobody would be allowed to usurp the rights of the fishermen and local population. He said the people of the area were being deprived of water due to the delay in the construction of dams and the drying up of wells and were forced to move from the area. But the rulers had no time to listen to their demands.

He said the fishermen of Gwadar were being deprived of their living as the government, instead of providing them facilities, was adding to their problems. Balochistan was rich in resources but there was poverty all around and the enemy was exploiting the situation. He said the JI was with the Balochistan people and would raise its voice in their support on every front, including the Parliament and outside. Meanwhile, JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch, while talking to office-bearers of teachers and social bodies, said the Punjab government's decision to revive the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) had been taken without any preparedness or the approval of the provincial assembly and the public opinion and was bound to create difficulties. He said a new tussle would start between the administration and the police and the general public would continue to be deprived of civic facilities unless the local governments were given Constitutional powers. He said the accountability of the corrupt was essential for the continuation of the democratic system. Referring to the CPEC, Liaqat Baloch said the ruling party was arousing the political parties against the CPEC by politicising the mega project. He urged the prime minister to make the project  transparent by removing all the apprehensions of different quarters.