Taking Panama leaks issue to logical conclusion Opposition’s responsibility: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri

PAT Chairman Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that taking the Panama leaks investigation to its logical conclusion is the national responsibility of the opposition. He said that the present rulers are architect of the system of corruption, adding that as long as they are in power, the national resources will continue to be looted and the people will continue to die. He said that the decision of the Model Town tragedy will come and the killers of the innocent people will meet their fate. He said that the government tried to fool the people and the opposition in the name of ToRs. He said that he can see the corrupt system and its protectors meeting their end soon.

The PAT Chairman expressed these views while talking to senior PAT leaders yesterday at his residence. He said that as long as our body politic is infected with virus of terrorism, terrorism will not be eliminated and the claims of establishment of durable peace will not hold any real value. He said that Operation Zarb-e-Azb marked significant successes but the war so won in mountains with sacrifices of the armed forces is being lost in the plains of the country due to incompetence and ineptitude of the rulers.

Dr Qadri said that it has been one and half years since the National Action Plan was launched with much fanfare, but the reforms have not got underway in the law enforcement agencies to date nor has any attention been paid to administration of speedy justice. He said that even today the NAB’s attitude towards corrupt ministers and advisors of Punjab is brotherly. He said that fair and even-handed application of justice is not possible in the presence of the current rulers.

The PAT Chairman said that through kidnapping of the son of SHC Chief Justice and assassination of Qawwal Amjad Sabri, the terrorists have sent out a loud and clear message of their presence. Talking about the ToRs stalemate, he said that the name of the Prime Minister’s family was mentioned directly in the Panama leaks. He said that instead of offering his family for accountability unconditionally, the Prime Minister and his party have demanded to make Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission and the Abottabad Commission investigations the part of the mandate of ToRs, which is not only regrettable but also highly accountable and condemnable, asking do both of these commissions have anything to do with the Panama leaks?

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that the Panama leaks issue was a simple matter which could have been resolved pretty easily had the Prime Minister chosen to tell the nation about the trail of money with which he bought properties in London in 1993, 1994 and 1995. He said that he could have presented the tax returns and the details of assets as announced in the Election Commission documents before the nation but nothings of the sorts was done. And the rulers insisted on inclusion of loan evaders from 1947 to date in ToRs. He reminded that a commission was constituted under Justice Jamshed of Supreme Court in 2012, which compiled a list of those who got their loans written off from 1975 to 2012. He said that this report consists of 3000 pages and the present rulers have not implemented the recommendations of the report despite passage of three years.

Dr Qadri said that the report should have been with the Election Commission at the time of 2013 elections which it could use to conduct scrutiny of the candidates under Article 62 & 63 of the Constitution, which was not allowed to be carried out. He said that the Commission has already given its findings on the loans write-offs that the present rulers talk about, adding that what is required is to send the cases to the courts.