Pakistan PM renews pledge to hold powerful, corrupt people accountable

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that he will continue to fight for the rule of law in Pakistan till his last breath to hold powerful and corrupt people accountable.

"I will turn Pakistan into Madinah-like welfare state to ensure merit and supremacy of law in the society,” he told a religious conference.

"The system of the state of Madinah was based on justice and merit, even a general was promoted to the higher rank on the basis of performance. We can rise as a nation by following the guiding principles of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).”

While taking a jibe at his political opponents, Imran said the Sharif family presented forged documents and tried to mislead Pakistan’s top court through lies and an infamous letter from a foreign state in the Panama Papers case.

"If the Panama case had been in a British court, the Sharif family would have been imprisoned immediately. There is a huge difference between the justice system of the West and Pakistan,” the prime minister said, adding that the country can never prosper unless the powerful people are held accountable before the law.

Speaking about the economic woes of the country, he said 9 million Pakistanis living abroad had money but they did not invest in Pakistan due to a failed and corrupt system. "If few thousand overseas Pakistanis make an investment in Pakistan, we will get rid of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Morality could not be destroyed by bombs as was evident from Germany and Japan which rose back after the World War due to high moral standards.”

According to experts of the FACTI Panel of the United Nations, Imran said $1,000 billion looted through corrupt practices every year are sent from the poor to rich countries. He assured that people would be provided subsidies on food items, loans for houses and opening of businesses besides health cards of citizens would take care of their medical needs. He expressed concern at increasing sex crimes in the society, adding that obscenity destroyed the family system in Britain. "We have to protect our children, youth and family from the obscene culture.”