Anti-Corruption Day: Corruption, injustices spark revolutions: governor

QUETTA: Corruption and economic injustices had compelled the oppressed people to rise up in revolutions in France and Russia, Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai said here at a function held to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day.

The gathering was organised by the Balochistan chapter of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Expressing concern over the involvement of a large number of educated and powerful people in this malaise, he said that the country was ripe for a revolution.

Achakzai said that corruption no longer carried a stigma and people no longer considered corrupt people to be bad.



French and Russian revolutions had occurred in reaction to economic injustices against people.

Terming the situation in the country analogous with those prevalent in Russia and France before the revolutions, he said that Pakistan would suffer dangerous consequences if the authorities concerned took no action at this point in time.

Reminding the audience of the stern warning by the father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, he said that if nothing was done to root out corruption, Pakistan’s integrity would be at risk.

“Nobody has learnt anything from the Quaid’s advice,” Achakzai said, adding that if government functionaries worked honestly, “some 80 per cent of our difficulties would be resolved”.



Referring to the existence of ghost teachers and ghost schools, the Balochistan   governor urged the authorities concerned to take strict action against people involved in such illegal activities.

Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani stressed the need for strengthening institutions and said: “The culture of commission must be uprooted for elimination of corruption from government departments,” Durrani said.

Director-General of NAB, Balochistan, Major (retd) Tariq Mehmood, Brig Musadiq Abbasi, Vice-Chancellor of the Balochistan University Dr Javed Iqbal also spoke on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2016.