Siraj urges NAB Chief to dig out files of around 150 mega corruption cases

F.P. Report

LAHORE: Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has said that the government’s failure to initiate accountability of other people named in the Panama leaks after the Sharif family clearly indicated that it did not want to continue the accountability process.

Addressing the central leadership of the JI at Mansoora, he therefore called upon the NAB Chairman to dig out the files of around one hundred fifty cases of mega corruption lying with the NAB and bring the culprits to the dock without further delay.

The meeting attended by the JI Secretary general Liaqat Baloch, deputy chiefs of the JI and Deputy Secretaries General of the party, resolved to continue the movement for accountability with a greater vigour till the plunderers of public wealth and those devouring bank loans were hauled up and made to return their ill gotten wealth to the public exchequer.

At the meeting, the JI chief called upon the government to take up Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s issue with the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, during his visit to the country and press for her immediate release. Dr Aafia Siddiqui has been in solitary confinements in the US jail for the last fifteen years.

Sirajul Haq said that after the opening of the cases against the Sharif family, it was the responsibility of the government to raise its voice for the accountability of the others but its attitude showed that it was obstructing the process by itself.

He said that on one hand, the country was burdened under huge foreign debt and the general public was facing crippling price spiral, while on the other hand, the corrupt elements were given free hand to plunder public money.

The JI chief said that Pakistan had freed an American couple and three children in a successful operation and only expression of goodwill on that by the US President was not enough. He said that if the US President truly desired good ties with this country, he should stop the Do More demands and release Dr Aafia Siddiqui. He however said there were reports that the US Secretary of State was here mainly for the release of CIA agent Shakil Afridi.

He said the US was spending millions to win over the people of Pakistan. He said that the hearts of the Pakistanis throbbed with Dr Aafia’s heart. He said that the US was wasting a big amount of its budget without knowing the sentiments of the Pakistanis. The US must realize that it could not earn the good will of the Pakistanis unless it released Dr Aafia.