State institutions protecting rulers, courtiers: Siraj

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Sirajul Haq has said all state institutions, including the National Accountability Bureau, are busy protecting the rulers and their courtiers rather than the rights of Pakistanis.

Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, he said the NAB was still pretending to collect information on the Panama Papers despite the fact that the issue surfaced eight months ago.

It meant that the NAB was taking no action against corrupt rulers, which was a sheer injustice with the nation. He said the Panama case was of paramount importance for Pakistan. But the role being played by the national institutions in saving the rulers reflected that they were facilitators of the rulers in corruption.

As long as the NAB chairman was appointed by the prime minister and the opposition leader, no one could expect justice from this institution, he said. “I think the powers of appointing NAB chairman be taken back from the PM and the opposition leader and be given to the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief justices of all the four high courts and Islamabad High Court so that the institution function fairly.” 

He said all those involved in corruption and their facilitators were criminals. Every government employee and political leader and worker was minting money at the moment. He said: “There is an important opportunity for us in the form of the Panama case.

Therefore, we should capitalize on it and begin an across-the-board accountability starting from the PM because in our system, big dacoits stay at the helms of affairs and small thieves are sent behind the bars. The whole nation is standing by the SC for the cause of accountability and we hope the decision in the Panama case will favour people and discourage corruption,” he asserted.