ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain said on Tuesday the government cannot spend too much on projects aimed at improving people’s lives because it is required to spend most of the funds available on debt servicing and meeting expenses of the armed forces.

“After retiring debts and meeting expenses of the armed forces, a meagre amount is left for spending on public welfare schemes,” he said while addressing the participants of a walk organised by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to create awareness about corruption.

Supporting policies of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, the president said it was facing a financial crisis, and as a result, it could not spend much on the schemes that directly benefited the people.

Take a look: Need stressed for national plan to weed out corruption

He said the government had inherited severe problems and when it came into power the total foreign debt amounted to Rs14,800 billion while the same stood at Rs6,700bn in 2008 when Pakistan Peoples Party government was formed.

Mr Hussain urged the people to be more responsible and dutiful and pay all the taxes so that the government could spend more for the uplift of the masses. “The government wants to provide relief to the people but it cannot do so due to the financial constraints,” he said.

The president was of the opinion that no mega corruption scandal had been detected in the last one-and-a-half years. “The present government has completed one-and-a-half years of its five-year term but we have not read about any big corruption scandal in the newspapers,” he remarked.

He said if the trend continued, the government would be able to save national wealth and spend the money on the welfare of the people.

Mr Hussain said corruption was the main reason behind the downfall of Pakistan Railways (PR).

Mr Hussain urged participants of the walk, especially schoolchildren and youths, to shun corruption because doing so was the key to a happy and peaceful life.

The president directed NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry to expose corrupt people and give them exemplary punishment.

Earlier, the participants of the walk marched on a road in the middle of the lawns of Aiwan-i-Sadr. President Hussain led the walk.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2015

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