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Corruption poses grave threat to society: Mamnoon
APP
ISLAMABAD – President Mamnoon Hussain on Tuesday underlined the need for taking efficient and effective measures for preventing and combating the menace of corruption.
The president emphasised on rigorous implementation of anti-corruption laws for curbing corruption, a press release said. He was addressing a seminar titled “Say no to corruption,” organised by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day here at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, National Accountability Bureau Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and NAB senior officials and the president secretariat.
He said that corruption poses grave threat to the very fabric of a society and stressed on the need to determine and check the elements fostering it. Unchecked corruption not only erodes democratic institutions, stunts economic growth but also degrades ethical values, observed the president. Therefore, there is a need to devise cohesive strategies and plan of action for fighting and uprooting corruption from Pakistan.
The president also called for further strengthening the anti-corruption departments and institutions particularly NAB enabling them to positively continue making efforts in weeding the curse of corruption. He emphasised on stringent and impartial application of rule of law for controlling and eliminating corrupt practices in Pakistan. According to the press release He also stressed on raising awareness against corruption adding that it was the collective social responsibility to fight and beat this menace. Only through ensuring transparency, openness and accountability in all public affairs can we realise the dream of a corruption free society, observed the president.
He pointed to the important role the National Accountability Bureau was playing in ridding Pakistan of corruption and has received highest recognition by the people amongst other public sector organisations. He particularly lauded NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman for his commitment and honesty and expressed his firm belief that under his guidance the NAB would further improve its efficiency in countering corruption from all segments of society. The event organised by the National Accountability Bureau was held to mark the day observed to create awareness among the people about waste of huge resources that could have been used for their welfare.
Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the government was committed to eradicating corruption from the society and said holding of the event reflected government's will to turn the tide and raise Pakistan's ranking. He said that fight against corruption was a new beginning and was being fought from the highest echelon's of the government. He vowed that government would make Pakistan amongst the best governed countries of the world. He said that the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) government was committed to good governance and institutional reforms.
He said that Pakistan today had a stronger democracy, a vibrant civil society and an independent judiciary and stressed that these positivities need to be exploited. He said that the NAB today was not being used for political victimisation and was purely an impartial and apolitical organisation focussed on eliminating corruption from the society. Ahsan Iqbal said that corruption stifles growth, shies away investment and undermines democracy. He said that only by pursuing a policy of three “Cs” – Commitment to fight corruption, Collaboration for united efforts and need for Continuity can play an important part.
NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman appreciated the role of the government in its commitment to eradicate corruption from Pakistan. He said that the function at the presidency reflected “the firm resolve, unflinching commitment and continued support of the president, the state, the government and the people of Pakistan to rid our beloved country of the malaise of corruption which is eating into the very vitals of our society.” He said that objective of the seminar was to create the much needed awareness against the albatross of corruption, mobilize public opinion and together Say “no” to corruption.
The NAB chairman said that the menace of corruption has links to a multitude of vices and leads to injustice, mistrust, suspicion and extremism. “It creates a sense of insecurity, hopelessness and despondency,”he said. He pointed that the menace of corruption and poverty were closely interlinked. Persistently seeing corruption in almost every facet of government, day to day working and the difficulties experienced in an honest behavior, many people simply accept corruption as the immutable status quo. He said that the National Accountability Bureau was established in compelling circumstances to fight and eradicate corruption in a holistic and integrated manner.
He said that the NAB was a complaint driven organisation and priority on cases was assigned keeping in view its nature, the amount of monies involved, the social impact and the number of affected. Top most priority was accorded to complaints of corruption against the NAB's own officials and they need to follow a strict code of conduct and zero tolerance against corruption is to be visibly exhibited. Qamar said that in the last one year NAB has prosecuted the corrupt and has recovered over Rs four billion of looted public money in one year, bringing the total recovery to date to Rs 261 billion. The allocation to the NAB for its working since creation are Rs 7.6 billion which was only 2.75 per cent of the recoveries made by the NAB.
The number of applications received in this year were 19900, double the number of 10500 received in the previous year. He termed the increase in applications to NAB reflective of people's confidence in its work. He mentioned PILDAT's latest report that rated NAB's performance at 42 per cent based on public survey. This compares quite favorably to 29 per cent public confidence in Police and 26 per cent in government officers working. The rate of success of NAB's prosecution work in all courts was 70 per cent.
He said that since its inception, NAB has adopted the Enforcement based approach in the fight against corruption. Special focus was therefore being given to Awareness and Prevention activities to spread the message against corruption. Character Building Societies (CBS) were being set up in educational institutions across Pakistan to build an effective edifice against corruption. He said that for the first time anti-corruption has been made a part of development agenda in Pakistan and the planning commission has included a chapter devoted to issues of corruption in the 11th five year plan
He also mentioned the latest Transparency International report (CPI) that has graded Pakistan at 126th position out of 175 countries worldwide. This compares very favorably with the position of last two years and said that it was the highest position attained by Pakistan since Transparency International started the ratings in 1995.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk