“Picking up electoral candidates is a serious matter. They can make a country strong or cause its decline,” Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf President Javed Hashmi said on Sunday.
He said its choosing a prime minister or a president through them was not the only purpose. It was the responsibility of the committees picking the candidates not to make the election process as a matter of personalities.
Hashmi was addressing a press conference at his residence.
He said a consensus care-taker government must be set up, just the way a consensus chief election commissioner was appointed.
He said those in the pasts governments who had been accused of accepting money from secret agencies, must clarify their positions.
Hashmi said that the Asghar Khan case had become a political landmark. He said some of the people initially accused in the matter had been acquitted. These, he said, included Ijazul Haq, Humayun Akhtar, Siddique Khan Kanju, Abdus Sattar Laleka, Ishaq Dar and himself.
“I am the only one who faced the National Accountability Bureau while imprisoned. I was acquitted,” he said.
He said those accused of corruption must face the charges irrespective of whether they were politicians, generals or judges.
“Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif should take the lead in this regard,” he said.
Hashmi said those who took up politics in pursuit of money should be prosecuted and ill-gotten money confiscated and spent on the citizens. The accountability should begin from 1970, he said.
He said the case of a bank manager who became a bank owner should be investigated and the results be made public.
Answering a question, he said that the elections would be held on time. He said media and the judiciary had given awareness to the people. Answering another question, he said, there was no tussle between the judiciary and the army chief. He said before leaving this region, the US wanted to create hell here.
PTI members Mian Saeed Qureshi, Saleem Bukhari, Maj (retired) Mujeeb Ahmed, Zaheeruddin Alizai, Ijaz Janjua and Abbas Ali Ansari were also present.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2012.
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He just said it that he has faced the courts on the issue and has been acquitted by the Musharraf era NAB no less. He hasn't declared anyone guilty, he just asked everyone to present themselves for accountability.
Good to see Javed Hashmi in news after a long time. He is certainly one of the rare breed of politicians.