Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed held a meeting with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Musaddiq Abbasi on Monday, wherein he urged the newly-appointed official to work towards rectifying flaws in the prosecution process to “catch big fish”.
The meeting comes at a time when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is under fire for not being able to act on its agenda of rooting out corruption. Recently, Pakistan went down 16 spots on the Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index (CPI), prompting people to question the government’s anti-corruption stance.
During Monday’s meeting Rashid guided Abbasi about government’s accountability drive, and called for speeding up the process to bring ongoing cases to a logical conclusion.
He recommended formation of a special panel of lawyers to convict those accused of corruption and to rectify the prosecution process. “Catch the big fish,” he said. “The process of accountability should be expedited.”
In a veiled reference to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, he said that those who return to the country do not deserve any concessions, rather accountability should go ahead without any discrimination.
The meeting was also attended by Home Secretary Yousuf Naseem Khokhar, who assured the newly-appointed official of full cooperation from the ministry.
‘PM never spoke of imposing emergency’:
Separately, during his weekly press conference in the federal capital, Rasheed said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has never talked about imposing an emergency or the presidential system during cabinet meetings.
He also expressed ignorance about a potential reshuffle in the federal cabinet, saying no one approached him regarding a change in his portfolio.
Last week, a report in this paper claimed that the prime minister was likely to change portfolios of his ministers owing to their poor performances. It was also reported that Rasheed was likely to be appointed as the information minister.
Read More: Role of accountability in good governance
However, the federal minister said that he has not been approached as of yet and if someone does approach him then he will give his own suggestions on the matter.
Speaking about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package, he said that Pakistan was not fond of going to the IMF. “We have sought a bailout from the IMF 23 times to revive our economy,” he added.
Referring to the passage of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill, the minister said that in over three years, not a single government resolution was defeated in the Senate despite the opposition’s majority.
“The opposition has failed miserably,” he said, adding that their potential no-trust move against the premier will not succeed either.
14 to 15 members of the opposition are secretly supporting Prime Minister Imran, he further said.
Speaking about the long march, Rasheed said that the opposition can march on Islamabad all they want but they will face defeat.
“All other parties know how tense things are but it’s only [JUI-F and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief] Maulana Fazlur Rehman who wants to march at all costs,” he claimed.
Speaking about terror incidents, he said that terrorism has increased across Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan. The military along with the people of Pakistan will end this wave of terrorism as well, he added.
The minister also said that the government will mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 with countrywide rallies.
About the United States-China rivalry, he said that Pakistan wants ties with both countries. “China is Pakistan’s all-weather friend while the US is a global power,” he added.
China does not have an issue with Pakistan going to the IMF, Rasheed said, adding that Beijing understands Pakistan’s economic conditions.
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