Govt to fight real war against corruption: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Monday that the incumbent government would fight a real and not a fraud war against corruption which Imran Khan had institutionalised in the country.

Responding to a point of order in the National Assembly, Khawaja Asif said that all associates of Imran Khan had looted the country and committed corruption to the tunes of billions of rupees.

He said that Imran Khan had ruined the country owing to corruption of billions of rupees and left behind weakened economic conditions and poor governance. Welcoming new opposition leader in the National Assembly Raja Riaz Ahmed Khan, the minister said the coalition government with support of the opposition would revive ruined economy. About Imran Khan’s narrative of being neutral, he said he (Imran) kept on changing his stance.

“Imran Khan’s associates, who are financially corrupt, are also intellectually dishonest that they believe in his less and changed narratives,” he said. He agreed with the views of opposition leader Raja Riaz that Imran Khan “under a planning gives false statement, contradict it and then build a new false narrative.”

Kh Asif said Imran Khan as Prime Minister could not face criticism and had rarely attended the National Assembly proceedings. Earlier, opposition leader Raja Riaz said that “an impression had been created that Imran did not lie and he was not corrupt.”

“He is the biggest liar and most corrupt politician in the history of Pakistan,” he said. He said there were ‘planned lies’ behind every talk whether it was the narrative of State of Madina or else.

He asked the government to strictly stop long march of Imran Khan. Raja Riaz said that he and his other colleagues in the house were elected on the PTI ticket but they had kept on raising voice against corruption being committed by Farah Gogi or others.

He said that Imran Khan in the last one month did not tell the nation as to what he had done for the benefit of country. He said that Imran Khan was ousted constitutionally through a no-confidence resolution but they (dissidents) did not vote against him and a later a reference was filed against them.

Ghous Bux Mehar of Grand Democratic Alliance, who was also candidate for the slot of the opposition leader, said the speaker was partial while naming Raja Riaz as opposition leader in the National Assembly.

Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf said that as per the Constitution, the candidate having support of most members from the opposition was appointed the opposition leader. He said that Raja Riaz enjoyed the support of 16 opposition members against Ghous Bux Mehar who had six parliamentarians to support him.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali questioned if Raja Riaz had been named only to criticise Imran Khan, saying that he would not follow the policy of criticism for the sake of criticism.

He said that Imran Khan had failed in his four years but observed that the incumbent government was also failure, as it could not control electricity load-shedding and revive economy.

He said if the government could not provide relief to the people of Cholistan, who are facing food and water shortage, would be able to complete its tenure.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi laid before the House the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 (Ordinance No. I of 2022) as required by clause (2) of Article 89 of the Constitution.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had also rejected the ordinance after it was promulgated in February 2022, saying that it amounted to curtailing powers of the commission.

Abbasi said the government and parliament would decide on electoral reforms but he was bound to lay the ordinance as per constitutional requirements. The National Assembly also passed the ‘The Global Institute Bill, 2021 with a majority voice.