Rulers’ indifference angered people: Siraj

A march on Raiwind did not mean a march on the private residence of the prime minister: JI Chief

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has said that government’s indifference to the Panama Leaks probe had forced people to take to the street.

Talking to delegations at Mansoora on Saturday, Haq said there were numerous corruption scandals like Panama Leaks, but the rulers were not ready to investigate them. He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said soon after Panama Leaks that he was ready for accountability. He said the prime minister had delivered three speeches on this issue, but now he was saying that there was no mention of his name in Panama Leaks therefore he would not present himself for accountability.

Haq, who is also a member of the Senate, said that a march on Raiwind did not mean a march on the private residence of the prime minister. “The rulers have built bungalows in every city and all are sacred so where may a protest be staged?” he asked.

Had the government accepted opposition’s terms of reference for a judicial commission on Panama Leaks and showed seriousness in the investigation, he said, people would have no ground for the protest. He said that those who had plundered the national wealth deserved no leniency.

Haq said that accountability would remain a distant dream until the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was made a completely independent institution. He said the NAB would become independent if the powers to appoint its chairman were withdrawn from the prime minister and the leader of the opposition and given to the Supreme Court and chief justices of the high courts.

About the Kashmir issue, the JI chief said it was not on rulers’ priority list and they would not resolve it. He said that Pakistan was a strong country of the Muslim world therefore it should raise its voice for resolution of issues facing Muslims regionally and globally.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2016.