Daily Times

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq on Saturday said the government’s indifference towards the Panama leaks probe had forced the people to take to the streets.

Talking to various delegations in Mansoora, he said there were numerous mega corruption scandals such as the Panama leaks, but the rulers were not ready for their investigation.

He said that in the beginning, the prime minister had said that he was ready for accountability and had delivered three speeches on this issue, but now he was saying that his name had not been mentioned in the Panama leaks.

Siraj said that a march towards Raiwind was not against the residence of anyone. “The rulers have built bungalows in every city and all were sacred, so where a protest should be lodged,” he asked.

He said that had the government accepted the opposition’s terms of reference and shown seriousness in the Panama leaks probe, the people would not have any ground for protest. The JI chief declared that the plunderers of public money deserved no leniency. He said that until and unless the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) became an independent institution, there could be no accountability. He said that NAB could become autonomous if the authority to appoint its chairman was withdrawn from the prime minister and the leader of the opposition and entrusted to the Supreme Court and the chief justices of the high courts. Talking about the Kashmir issue, he said that Kashmir was not the priority of the rulers nor could they be expected to resolve this. He said that Pakistan is a strong Muslim country and its rulers should raise a strong voice for the solution of not only the regional but also the problems facing the Muslims. Pakistan should have the courage to expose the double standards of the UN and the world community, he added. In this regard, he said, a foreign minister should be appointed and separate desks should be set up to highlight the Kashmir issue and a deputy foreign minister should be appointed especially to raise the Kashmir issue at international forums.

Siraj said Pakistan had the best opportunity to make out a case against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his admission of the Indian role in the fall of Dhaka, but the Pakistani rulers did not show courage in this regard.