Accountability of corrupt to be held across the board: Ali Muhammad

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan Tuesday said across the board accountability of the corrupt would be carried out and all the looted money would be recovered from the plunderers of national wealth.

Taking part in debate in the National Assembly, he said questions would be asked from the responsible about misappropriation, corruption and misuse of public office.

He said building motorways, hospitals and educational institutions by governments was not a favour to the public rather it was responsibility of politicians who got their strength from the people.

The minister said the constitution was held in abeyance during the dictatorial regimes of Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf, while the track record of democratic governments on constitutional matters was also not exemplary.

He cited examples from the life of Quaid-e-Azam, who flatly refused to use money from the government treasury for his personal expenses – even for food.

The minister said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif made 20 private visits to London and performed Umra (in Saudi Arabia) by using public money amounting to Rs 1.5 billion. Similarly, Asif Ali Zardari went to Dubai 48 times on government expenditure when his party was in power, he added.

He questioned why the poor taxpayer should bear the burden of private visits of leaders of political parties while in power.

Ali Muhammad said many absconders were sitting in London.

He said embezzlement was also done in the relief funds for earthquake victims an the allegation in that regard was not levelled by the current government.

He pointed out that no public money was spent on the residence of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Bani Gala while during the previous governments, multiple camp offices were established at private homes.

The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan during his upcoming visit to the United States would stay at the Embassy of Pakistan as part of the austerity drive of the government.

Ali Muhammad said the people had voted in the previous elections so that their problems should be resolved but not a single hospital was built where a person could take his loved ones for medical treatment with a sense of satisfaction.

He said the issuance of production order was right of every member of the parliament, but it was also the right of his constituents that their representative was honest and was not hiding behind production orders.