Aviation minister wants plunderers to be ‘punished by death’

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Monday said the country’s plunderers should be ‘punished by death,’ stressing that those who looted the country for the last 35 years must be held accountable.

“Those who looted the country should be punished to death. There are political terrorists in the country and those who looted for 35 years should be held accountable,” he told reporters after visiting the Labour Complex in Taxila.

The minister had visited the complex to review the work progress. According to officials, the flats would be allotted to the families of martyrs after providing electricity and water facilities.

The project was announced in 2006 under the then president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, he said, adding that phase one was prepared in 2013. The minister accused the previous governments of doing nothing for the project.

Supporting his claim against past rulers, he said those who have been looting the country for the “last 35 years” must be held accountable.

“I myself is a follower of self-accountability and I suggest everyone should be held accountable. But those have looted the country over the last 35 years in the name of democracy... thieves and looters should be punished to death,” Sarwar said.

The federal minister added: “The ‘political terrorists’ in the country are against good deeds and welfare of the people.”

While commenting on the prevailing situation, he admitted that the basic commodities and electricity prices have increased. However, the minister added that the government had started the Ehsaas programme – the PTI’s flagship initiative – to assist the low-income group. As many as Rs160 billion has been disbursed among the beneficiaries under the Ehsaas Kifalat programme and relief of Rs716 billion would be given to the masses over electricity, he added.

The aviation minister also talked about the national flag carrier. He said that so far 760 employees – including 17 pilots – have been sacked from the Pakistan International Airlines over fake degrees and licenses of such pilots were revoked.

Reacting to the development, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Chaudhry Manzoor lamented such statements and recalled his previous statements about many PIA pilots holding “fake degrees”.

“How you [Sarwar] can give such fatwas that ‘somebody should be punished to death’... such statement should not have been made. Sarwar himself has been in the PPP and the PML-Q,” he said while talking to a private news channel.

(With input from DNA, News Desk)