Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Sirajul Haq on Tuesday asked for the accountability of all those named in Panama Leaks, including bureaucrats and judges. Talking to media persons here, the JI chief said that there were 364 people, including judges and bureaucrats, mentioned in Panama Papers and all of them should be held accountable.
He said it was unfortunate that the ruling elite had never accepted the court verdicts, adding that Supreme Court must start proceedings against all those named in Panama Papers, including judges and bureaucrats. Siraj said that his party will fight the case against corruption at every forum, whether it is court or street, and urged the political parties not to give space to the corrupt in their ranks.
He said the JI has decided to take the fight against corruption to the streets as well as the Parliament and courts. "The entire nation needs to wage this fight," said Haq, one of the three petitioners in the Panama Papers case. He said he had called a meeting of the JI senior leadership at Mansoora on September 14 where the party would reaffirm its pledge to continue its drive against corruption with a new vigour and zeal.
The JI chief warned that the party would not rest until all Pakistanis named in the Panama leaks as well as those behind the country's sugar and drug mafias are brought to justice. He stated that process of accountability should not be taken lightly. Haq said that Nawaz's ouster from office had not helped resolve Pakistan's problem of corruption and declared that the country wants all who have looted public funds to be made accountable before the law.
In fact, the Panama Leaks had been the divine rod which was yet to strike many heads after Nawaz Sharif, he said and added the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif had not solved the problem and there was a need to audit the account of other 436 persons named in the Panama Leaks. Sirajul Haq said the nation had got a golden chance to eradicate corruption and if it missed the chance, accountability of the plunderers would never be possible.
He said in fact it was the responsibility of the political parties to help weed out corruption by refusing to issue party tickets to the people notorious for corruption, however, he said, if the party leadership itself was corrupt, such a move could not be expected.