LAHORE – Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday resolved that the government would make no compromise on accountability process as it were the people who bore the brunt of corruption.
Addressing the event ‘Delivering Prime Minister’s 100 Days Agenda’ to highlight the performance of the Punjab government during first 100 days, the prime minister said he said the opposition in the National Assembly was ‘doing the drama’ of political victimization contrary to the fact that not even a single case had been registered by the incumbent government.
The event was attended by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, provincial ministers, members of the Punjab Assembly, diplomats and party workers in a huge number.
The enthusiastic workers carrying party flags chanted slogans in support of the party, the prime minister and the chief minister.
The prime minister recalled that the fake bank accounts had first surfaced in 2015 but the then government put the matter under the carpet in name of Charter of Democracy.
“We have done nothing. But we have not impeded the action (against corruption),” he added.
He said it was strange that the opposition wanted to make Shehbaz Sharif, who was in the jail of NAB (National Accountability Bureau) for corruption, head of the Public Accounts Committee. The previous government had passed a law allowing a corrupt man to head a political party, which was nothing but the mockery of the parliament, he added.
The prime minister told the gathering that he had asked his party to accept the opposition’s every demand like issuance of the production order of Khawaja Saad Rafiq and making Shehbaz Sharif PAC chairman.
However, “we cannot agree to backtrack from the accountability” as it was inevitable for the secure future of the country and next generations, he added. The country’s future would remain imperiled until “we arrest the corrupt.”
The prime minister said he had launched his political career with the slogan against corruption and he would never make any compromise in the name of protecting democracy.
He censured the previous government for spending Rs 250 billion budget of South Punjab in other cities, what, he said, had increased the sense of deprivation among the people of the area. The disintegration of Pakistan was the consequence of such injustices with the people, he added.
He called for learning from the mistakes done in the past and also mentioned the injustices meted out to the people of Balochistan.
The prime minister appreciated the Punjab government for allocating exclusive budget for South Punjab. He said the non-development of remote areas put a burden on major cities and cited the problems faced by the Lahore city like pollution and congestion.
