Anti-corruption drive will bring prosperity to Pakistan: PM Imran

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday Pakistanis were unaware of the “dire” consequences corruption could have on their lives, adding that the continuing anti-corruption drive would make the country prosper.

“People don’t understand the relation between corruption and their lives… corruption badly affects them,” the premier said in his address at a ceremony in connection with the Anti-corruption day in Islamabad.

He hailed the Punjab government for launching an anti-corruption app, and “recovering encroached land worth billions of rupees”.

PM Imran said the corrupt launder their illegal wealth outside the country, which in turn leads to devaluation and rise in inflation. “No one wants to invest in the society where corruption is widespread,” he said. “Overseas Pakistanis, who are our major assets, refuse to bring their investment due to corruption.”

Taking an apparent jibe at his opponents, the premier said projects like “metro were built not for the people but to take commission and kickbacks”.

He said China’s President Xi Jinping became popular due to his ruthless drive against corrupt officials in Beijing. “President Xi jailed around 500 people of ministerial level… this shows he is a real statesman.”

People in many countries including Iraq and Lebanon have taken to the streets against corruption, PM Imran said, adding that no country could prosper where misappropriation was rampant and the government “not clean.”

For the sake of survival, he said, the entire nation needed to participate in the anti-corruption drive, which “will pave way for a modernistic outlook of the country.”

PM’s aide on accountability Shahzad Akbar and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also addressed the ceremony.