RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said the process of transparent accountability has been buried while a culture of nepotism, recommendation and bribery is in vogue in the country.

Talking to media on Thursday, Shehbaz said the corrupt elite had looted the nation’s money while the honest and upright people had no value, adding resources of the country amounting to billions and trillions of rupees had been looted and they were not held accountable. “There should be a transparent accountability process.”

He said the biggest obstacles in achieving the destination were slackness, culture of corruption, unjust accountability process, violation of merit and nepotism.

Shehbaz maintained that global media was discussing the issue when the name of Prince Charles of the UK had been mentioned in the Paradise Leaks. On the other side, nobody talked about the plunderers who had looted billions of rupees from the poor nation in Pakistan, he said. “If the situation remains the same, we will be thrown out in the dustbin of history. Therefore, we have to jointly transform this journey into a process of development through hard work, honesty and trust,” he added.

He suggested to make a sovereign pledge on Iqbal Day to transform Pakistan into a truly Islamic welfare state by following the sayings of Iqbal and Jinnah. He said corruption in national resources had weakened the foundation of the country. He said the objectives of creation of Pakistan could be achieved by following the golden principles of hard work, honesty and trust along with the sayings of Iqbal and Jinnah.