ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday announced to constitute a high-powered commission to probe the wealth stolen from Pakistan.
“The commission will include representatives of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP),” the prime minister said in a nationwide address.
PM Imran Khan said the commission would investigate all those who had ever been in power in Pakistan and make a report so that in future no government has the audacity to bring Pakistan at the verge of such an economic collapse.
“I am making a high-powered commission. An inquiry commission with one point agenda that how these parties in the past governments got Pakistan indebted with additional 24,000 billion rupees,” he said.
He warned those involved in corruption that he would not spare them even if he lost his life.
“Try to blackmail me that I will lose the government. This government is a very small thing, even if I lose my life I won’t spare these thugs. This is my promise to my nation. I won’t spare those who looted Pakistan,” he said.
The premier said his government was determined to follow the principles laid down by the Riasat-e-Medina.
Imran Khan said that the state of Medina was not established in one day there was a process in turning it into a welfare state.
“There’s no switch that Imran Khan would turn on and it will become a Naya Pakistan,” he said.
He said that the nation would witness how Pakistan was changing under our government.
The prime minister reiterated that he would not give NRO to corrupt and plunderers as in the past two NROs had already caused huge damage to the country under which they were still reeling.
He regretted that a ruckus had been created inside parliament by the opposition parties and warned that he would not bow before their blackmailing and pressure.
On allegations of the government’s using the National Accountability Bureau against the opposition as a political revenge, he said the NAB and judiciary were independent and no one can put pressure on these institutions.
PM Khan also vowed to carry forward the process of accountability without being subdued to any pressure or blackmailing from his political adversaries.
He said his government had obtained information from abroad after reaching agreements with different countries on the basis of which they had traced out 10 billion dollars accounts operated by Pakistanis abroad.
He said when PTI came into power, the current account deficit stood around 19.5 billion dollars and the country was on the verge of default and the devaluation of rupee could have plunged the whole economy into turmoil. However, the economy had been made stable now, he said.
About the fiscal budget, he maintained that his government had tried to support the weaker segments of the society.
Imran Khan added that the government had saved 50 billion rupees by slashing expenditure while cabinet members had decided to cut 10 per cent in their salaries.
He also lauded Pak Army for their decision against pay raise in the salaries of its senior officers.
The prime minister said he would work closely with the FBR chairman to collect taxes by removing the bottlenecks and ensuring smooth processes.
He also appealed to the nation to pay taxes and avail tax amnesty scheme.
