By Muhammad Luqman
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government’s vision of Naya Pakistan could not be accomplished unless the people fully take part in the ongoing “jihad” against corruption by exposing the corrupt elements in the society.
He was speaking at the launch ceremony of Punjab government’s anti-graft mobile app in the capital Islamabad to mark the international anti-corruption day on Monday.
Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has developed ‘Report Corruption app’ to eradicate the stigma of graft.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the elimination of corruption was inevitable to protect the future of the generation.
“This is a great step towards making Pakistan a modern society. This is an impressive performance and requests you to publicize to make people know the benefit of this drive,” Imran Khan said.
He appreciated Punjab government for recovery of government land worth Rs132 billion, besides another amount of Rs5 billion from corrupt people through the Punjab Anti Corruption Establishment.
He said unfortunately, the people did not know the connection between corruption and their lives and in some instances, people were also seen showering flower petals on the corrupt people out of their ignorance.
He said the youth of the country could play a leading role in the anti-corruption drive with their active participation.
The prime minister also advised the Punjab government to publicize the performance of the mobile application on a monthly basis.
He said the Chinese economy was considered as the fastest growing economy just because the Chinese people, as well as the government, had arisen against the corrupt people and above 400 minister-level people were jailed on corruption charges.
He said the Chinese people considered President Xi Jinping as a real statesman because they had realized that corruption was the major reason to beget poverty.
Referring to the anti-corruption movements in Chili, Iraq and other states, the prime minister said it was a changed world where no one could conceal the corruption.
In the United States, the people were caught on the charges of corruption, they had committed even three decades ago, he added.
They had a popular maxim ‘you can run but cannot hide’, he added.
He said despite being rich with huge natural resources, the corrupt nations remained poor while clean governments with no corruption became richer despite having little resources and cited examples of Nigeria and Congo and that of Switzerland.
He explained that the money made through corrupt practices always landed in the individuals’ accounts instead of being spent on welfare projects like education and health sectors to steer people out of poverty.
