Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said the vision of Naya Pakistan could not be accomplished unless the people fully take part in the government’s ongoing “jihad” against corruption by exposing the corrupt elements in the society.
Addressing a launching ceremony of “Report Corruption” mobile application introduced by Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment, he said the elimination of corruption was inevitable to protect the future.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and other cabinet members also attended the event, which marked the launching of the mobile application after the prime minister formally pushed the button.
“This is a great step towards making Pakistan a modern society. This is an impressive performance and request you to publicise to make people know the benefit of this drive,” the prime minister said while appreciating the idea of the mobile application as well as the recovery of government land worth Rs 132 billion, besides another amount of Rs 5 billion from corrupt people by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment.
He said unfortunately, the people did not know the connection between corruption and their lives and in some instances, people were also seen showering flower petals on the corrupt people out of their ignorance.
He said the youth of the country could play a leading role in the anti-corruption drive with their active participation.
The prime minister also advised the Punjab government to publicise the performance of the mobile application on monthly basis.
He said the Chinese economy was considered as the fastest growing economy just because the Chinese people as well as the government had arose against the corrupt people and above 400 minister level people were jailed on corruption charges.
He said the Chinese people considered President Xi Jinping as a real statesman because they had realised that corruption was the major reason to beget poverty.
Referring to the anti-corruption movements in Chile, Iraq and other states, the prime minister said it was a changed world where no one could conceal the corruption.
In the United States, the people were caught on the charges of corruption, they had committed even three decades ago, he added. They had a popular maxim ‘you can run but cannot hide’, he added.
He said despite being rich with huge natural resources, the corrupt nations remained poor while clean governments with no corruption became richer despite having a little resources, and cited examples of Nigeria and Congo and that of Switzerland.
He explained that the money made through corrupt practices always landed in the individuals’ accounts instead of being spent on the welfare projects like education and health sectors to steer people out of poverty.
He said the land retrieved by the Punjab government could be used for the welfare projects like the construction of low-cost housing for those who could not afford building their own houses.
The corrupt people laundered the looted money abroad in dollars which impacted the local currency and led to reduction of national resources, he said.
He said the corrupt societies could never attract investment and added the overseas Pakistanis were eyeing to invest their capital in their homeland once the government eliminated the social evil.
In order to eliminate the minted money, the previous government executed development projects unnecessarily like the Metro Bus Service in Multan which had been resisted even by the people there.
He said the situation could not be changed unless the people considered the corrupt elements as their enemy.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said the launch of the mobile application by Punjab government was a remarkable achievement against corruption which would enable the people report corruption through their mobile phones.
He told the gathering that the provincial government had recovered land valuing Rs 132 billion from illegal occupation besides another amount of Rs 4.75 billion from the corrupt people.
He urged the people to move forward to report corruption through the new facility to contribute the purgation of the society of corruption. The government was committed neither to make any corruption nor let anyone else to do so, he resolved.
Shahzad Akbar said during one and half years of the provincial PTI government, around Rs 132 billion had been recovered.
He said after launching the mobile application, the provincial government had targeted to digitalise the whole anti-corruption department.
After launching the mobile application, the accountability system was now in people’s hand who could also file complaints anonymously which would promote the concept of the whistle-blower.
The Punjab anti-corruption director general also gave a briefing about the performance of the provincial corruption watchdog.
He said during the last 16 months, they received a total of 31,746 complaints and held 6,883 inquiries into these cases. A total of Rs 1,798.82 million in recoveries was made, while land worth Rs 12,738.95 million had been retrieved from the illegal occupation.
He urged the people to fully utilise the facility by lodging complaints against the corrupt elements and officials.
