LAHORE: Pakistan Ameer Jamaate Islami, Senator Sirajul Haq has said that the drive against corruption must be stepped up to pull the country out of poverty, ignorance and other evils. He was addressing the JI provincial leadership from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa at Al Markaz Peshawar. Sirjaul Haq said the people who argued that the provision of basic facilities was the real issue of the masses instead of corruption, were actually trying to mislead the nation and to protect their ill-gotten wealth. He said that the real cause of the poverty, illiteracy and lack of facilities of education and health was corruption and plundering of the public wealth. He said that as long as the corrupt elements were present in the assemblies, the problems of the general public would not be solved. He said that Pakistan was rich with resources and the day it becomes free of corruption; all its problems would be solved. He said that the Pakistanis working abroad were remitting 16 billion dollars every year which was transferred back to foreign countries by the corrupt rulers and their associates. He said that the total loan of the country was around 73 billion dollars whereas a much larger amount of 500 billion dollars owned by the plunderers was lying in foreign banks. He said if this wealth was transferred to the country, its debt would be cleared and the country would not need any fresh taxation.