SWABI, June 30: Provincial Senior Minister Sirajul Haq has said corruption was the biggest enemy of the country, claiming that after the passage of Shariat Bill and the budget, the MMA government has embarked upon rooting out this menace from the government departments.

“We have initiated jihad against the corruption which has hit our resources,” he stated while speaking at public meetings here on Sunday.

The minister said the government had devised a long-term strategy to root out corruption from society at large and from the government departments in particular.

He called upon the people to extend their full support and cooperation to the government in its effort.

The anti-Islam forces and the print and electronic media have unleashed a propaganda war against the MMA government and termed the alliance leadership fundamentalists and extremists, he said, adding that this was unfair and unjustified.

Mr Haq said the western world propagated that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was opposed to imparting education to women and imposed restrictions on them, and even President Musharraf castigated the alliance leadership and the NWFP government to please his masters. The MMA government guarantees all rights to the citizens in accordance with the teachings of Islam which is a perfect code of life and a unique religion in the world, he added.

He said: “We have decided to establish a separate university for women and to set up a medical college for them.”

The minister, who also holds the portfolio of finance, said the Khyber Bank would provide money to 7,500 people under the self-employment scheme, but did not tell as to how much amount would be disbursed under this head.