‘Surgical operation to combat corruption needed’

LAHORE

A national level surgical operation is needed to eradicate corruption without extending exemption to anyone as society will not free from corruption until unbiased accountability is established.

These views were expressed by the experts in Jang Economic Session on ‘What reforms required for corruption free society’, on Tuesday.

Panelists included Rahat Latif, Dr Ihsan Malik, Syed Ahzar Hassan Nadeem, Haji Ahmed, Abdul Basit Khan, Jhanzab Mirza and Manzoor Malik. The session was hosted by Sikindar Lodhi.

Rahat Latif said social and economic issues getting worse in Pakistan due to instability and ineffective policies. He said federal ombudsman playing the best role in provision of justice while reforms are required to make all institutions effective.

He believed that if the institutions unpublicized then performance could be improved while corruption has become a tradition in the country.

Dr Ihsan Malik said education is costly due to corruption and making the education a business is playing havoc with future of the country. He said education selling will not produce good society so that comprehensive educational reforms are required for character building. He said use of information and technology can create transparency and helpful in improving the performance of the institutions.

He said poverty is root cause of corruption for which promotion of agriculture and industry is required to create employment opportunities. He said the corruption issues become more critical due to debt burden.

Syed Ahzar Hassan Nadeem said rule of law is more important than the accountability and transparency which itself eradicate the corruption and other social evils. He said supremacy of human rights and a judicial system based on justice can resolve many social evils. He said establishing the writ of rule of law should start from the government. He called the politicians to become examples for public to follow the rules and regulations.

Haji Ahmed said that Pakistan is at 34 positions in the corrupt countries of the world while socio-economic issues growing in the country due to corruption. He said educational reforms are unavoidable to save the social system while both individual and collective efforts are required for the betterment of society and country. He said character building is also required along with better educational system. He said automation in the institutions can improve the betterment chances.

 Abdul Basit Khan said that situation on corruption eradication is not encouraging since creation of Pakistan while its growing to government instability and lack of implementable policies. He said problems of commoners are growing due to biased trends.

He said other social and economic issues should be included in National Action Plan along with security issues.

Jhanzab Mirza said all types of corruption had gripped society which is leading the society towards extremism.

He said reward and punishment policies should be strictly implemented to discourage the corruption. He said transparency should be started from the government by giving access to government accounts to public, making transparent election and electronic voting.

Manzoor Malik said that corruption is a cancer which is weakening the socio-economic system and eradication of it at every stage is unavoidable. He said adhocism is an important reason of corruption while it grows when the institutions are put on fast track instead of devised rules and regulations.

He said double standard and discretionary powers should be eradicated in all government institutions and honest officers should be appointed.