Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A senior leader of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) and Member of National Assembly Asad Umar has said that his party would never compromise on holding accountable those persons who
plundered the national exchequer.

While exclusively talking to Daily Times he said that the facts of the terms of reference (ToR) committee on involvement of the prime minister’s family in the Panama leaks would soon be displayed to the public.

The committee will submit its report within 15 days and the PTI would determine their future strategy after seeing the report.

The accountability process would begin with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, followed by many other people.

He was of the view that Nawaz Sharif lied to the nation for almost 12 years when he said he was not corrupt, but the Panama leaks exposed his dishonesty. He said if Jahangir Tareen, or indeed any other leader was guilty of similar offences, their accountability, too, must be carried out.

After the hectic efforts of the PTI over two decades, the time had come to commence the process of accountability in the country. He said that those terms of reference which were submitted by PTI in the joint opposition meeting were actually prepared by all political parties in the opposition alliance. He said that all opposition parties still enjoyed complete consensus on the ToRs.

“We demand the formation of a commission on Panama leaks that will look into the facts and details comprehensively”, Asad said. The PTI leader said that most cases where PTI members were disqualified due to bogus degrees involved people who belonged to rural areas and had poor access to education. Responding a question about the cigarette manufacturing company of provincial health minister KP, he said that his business was a private matter and said there was no conflict of interest.

The MNA said that KP suffered from grave misuses of ADP funds in the past, which PTI had been able to reduce to some extent. PTI constituted the first ever village council in the history of the country in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with millions of rupees allocated to it in development funds.

“It is a tradition in the country that not even a single penny is given to Union Council, but PTI broke this custom. If you do not give financial powers to the lowest level, you cannot hope to make any long-term progress.