Corruption and misuse of authority are the major challenges facing the country and all segments of society, in general, and the youth in particular need to stand united against corruption and crooked practices. Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said this while addressing a national seminar on "Role of youth in eradication of corruption", organized by Quaid-e-Azam University here on Monday.
"We must collectively fight to get rid of the cancer of corruption that eats deeper into moral fabric of our society", he said, adding the role of youth is very important in this regard. He urged upon the youth to play their due role in fight against corruption. "The message through youth can be spread very effectively in every home, street, town and workplace; thus, the youth should join us as volunteers in our national campaign against corruption", he added. Qamar Zaman told the NAB is closely working with the Ministry of Federal Education for incorporating anti-corruption theme in the curriculum. "We have also signed a MoU with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) with an aim to make joint efforts in sensitising the youth in the universities against corruption", he added.
He said the menace of corruption badly affects the state of economy, standard of living and social justice. "If a country wants to achieve sustained socio-economic development with healthy foreign investment, corruption must be eliminated at all costs", he added.
The Chairman NAB said that corruption in any society is inversely proportional to the good governance. He said that all segments of society especially the youth need to stand united against corruption and corrupt practices.
He said the NAB works on a three-pronged strategy to weed out corruption. It consists of awareness/education, prevention and enforcement. He further said that under awareness/education regime, more than 42000 character building societies (CBS) have been established in universities and colleges across the country for sensitising future leaders of the country against corruption. He maintained that the Corruption Perception Index issued by the Transparency International in 2015 from Berlin had placed Pakistan at 117th position out of 175 countries. Earlier, Vice Chancellor Quaid-e-Azam University Dr Javed Ashraf appreciated the NAB's performance under the leadership of Chairman Qamar Zaman.