Panama Leaks: Siraj says PM, others should face accountability

BATKHELA/CHARSADDA: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Sunday said that all those named in the Panama Papers scam, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, should face accountability.

Talking to reporters after offering fateha for Haji Jehanzeb here, he said that those who had stolen money from the national exchequer should be punished.Senator Sirajul Haq said that his party had staged protests and filed petition at the Supreme Court and expressed satisfaction over the progress made in the case.

He said the prime minister should fulfill the pledges made in the All Parties Conference (APC) on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

"The rail track should also pass through Gilgit, Malakand division and Peshawar valley," he demanded."This route would provide an opportunity to include the tribal region in the CPEC," he maintained.The JI chief said that nobody in Pakistan was against the CPEC project, but the project should provide opportunities for development of the backward areas of the country."Original plan has all the details of the schemes and route and the prime minister should not abandon that plan," he said, adding that an alternate route passing through Malakand Division should also be approved.Meanwhile, speaking at a meeting at Al-Markaz in Charsadda, Sirajul Haq has rejected the in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance.He said that the ordinance was an attempt to discredit the superior judiciary. He termed the government action inappropriate and undemocratic. He said that NAB had used plea bargaining for legalising corruption, adding that nobody should have the authority to absolve wrongdoers of their crime.Siraj said that JI had launched a movement for corruption free Pakistan and added that his party had also filed a petition in the court. On the occasion, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leaders Maulana Mufti Shabir Ahmed, Maulana Qari Hazrat Omar and Maulana Hafiz Hussain Ahmed announced joining JI.