News
Monday, June 04, 2012
Imran wants audit of defence budget* PTI chief says corruption to eat up country if not stopped
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan called for auditing the defence budget of the country by bringing it in the knowledge of elected government as to where it is spent.
Addressing a post-budget press conference on Sunday, Imran termed corruption the biggest evil haunting the country, and felt that the menace had increased so massively that if not stopped, it would eat up the country. He again urged the PPP and the PML-N leadership to declare their assets.
The PTI chief accused both the PPP and the PML-N of supporting the status quo and urged their leadership to bring back the money they had stashed in foreign accounts, to show they were sincere with the country.
Imran called the new federal budget a total fraud, opining whatever tax was collected would be paid in external debt servicing.
On devaluation of rupee, Imran said that it pushes up inflation, while the leaders whose money was ‘preserved’ in foreign accounts benefited from it. He said the people of the country would not pay taxes as “their leaderships” had not been paying taxes.
He pointed out that 61% of the parliamentarians in the sitting assemblies did not bother paying taxes. He vowed to collect taxes from the powerful segments of society and reduce expenditures by adopting austerity measures, after coming into power.
Coming down hard on Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the PTI chief termed the shifting of his camp office to Minar-e-Pakistan a drama, saying the PML-N had supported the PPP for three years, all the time knowing where the country was going.
Imran said the PTI was the only party that had public support, and it could block the entire country if wanted. “This will, however, be an unconstitutional act, so it would not be exercised.” He said that the details of assets of the PTI leadership and members of its Central Executive Committee would be posted on the party’s website after June 30.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk