PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has vowed to go to any extent to weed out the evil of corruption from the province as there was no room in the PTI manifesto for the people involved in the menace.

He was addressing, as the chief guest, a ceremony titled ‘United against corruption for a better Pakistan’ held at Nishter Hall here on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day on Friday.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment had arranged the seminar.

Seminars, walks held in KP, Fata to mark International Anti-Corruption Day

Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Corruption Dr Haider Ali, Director Anti-Corruption Establishment Zaibullah Khan, former chief secretary Mohammad Azam Khan and deputy prosecutor NAB Mohammad Jamil also addressed the function.

Mr Khattak said corruption was the leading cause of deterioration of society, adding politicians were responsible for corruption as they had damaged public institutions through political interference for their vested interests.

Mr Khattak said that corrupt politicians in the past used education, health, police and revenue departments for their ulterior motives, adding transformation of public institutions, transparency, supremacy of merit and provision of social services were the basics for development and prosperity.

“The country can progress if we reform ourselves,” he remarked, saying that corrupt people ignored the golden principles of Islam and were indulging in misuse of resources. “Despite claiming ourselves to be Muslims, we have anti-corruption institutions which is astonishing,” he maintained.

The chief minister termed transformation of institutions and reformation of the system as the only way to root out corruption from the society.

Mr Khattak said that people voted PTI to power to bring a change in the system as they had become tired of it. He said his government would leave no stone unturned in strengthening institutions, bringing transparency and ensuring merit.

On the occasion, Parliamentary Secretary Dr Haider Ali said elimination of corruption was indispensable for translating the dream of progress and prosperity into reality. He claimed that due to the steps taken by the provincial government KP was at the top in the context of good governance in the country.

UPPER DIR: A seminar was organised in the district assembly hall to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day. District nazim Sahibzada Faseehullah, tehsil nazim Mir Makhzan Din and others addressed the function.

A seminar was also arranged at the Shaheed Benazir Bhatto University in Sheringal.

BUNER: A walk was organised to create awareness against corruption. Officials of various government departments and people belonging to different walks of life participated in the event and vowed to play role in eliminating corruption from the society.

LAKKI MARWAT: The district administration with the support of line departments and nongovernment organisations held a walk in Lakki city to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day.

KOHAT: Speakers at a seminar held in connection with the anti-corruption day regretted that dishonest people enjoyed respect while good people were looked down upon in the society.

To mark the day, the anti-corruption department organised a function at the district council hall. It was attended by opposition leader in the district council Naseem Afridi, central cultural secretary of PTI Waseem Shinwari, government officials and people from different walks of life.

Despite invitations by the anti-corruption department, none from the local administration, including the commissioner, district nazim, deputy commissioner, district police officer and heads of government departments, attended the function.

To fill the empty seats in the hall employees of district council were brought in.

GHALANAI: To market the day, the political administration set up a toll-free phone number for receiving complaints of any corruption in the departments.

KHAR: The political administration in collaboration with the Fata secretariat arranged a walk and seminar at civil colony here to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Tribal elders, workers of political and religious parties, social activists and officials attended the events.

They participants said the day was aimed to make people aware about how to rid the society of corruption. They said corruption was a serious problem, undermining social and economic development.

They called for extending the outreach of national anti-corruption institutions to Fata.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2016