Karachi—Tax evaders and people involved in corruption and crimes and those who did not come up with the requirements of clauses of 62/63 of the constitution should not be allowed participate in general elections as candidates.
This was recommended by the speakers at a meeting organized in Karachi by Shura Hamdard to discuss “ the perilous impact of corruption on the country” the meeting was presided over by Justice (R) Haziqul Khairi. Mrs. Sadia Rashid, President, Hamdard Foundation Pakistan was also present at the meeting.
Besides the prevailing rampant financial corruption the intellectual corruption adding fuel to fire and potentially dangerous to the socio-economic and even political stability in the country.in Karachi.
Renowned economist Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqui said that as a result of corruption, tax evading and encouragement to make black money white the country was facing a loss of Rs. 21.36 billon per day and Rs. 7800 billon per annum.
The amount, given by the NAB, was quite low from the real figure, he added.
‘Tax amnesty scheme is totally unreasonable, it should be withdrawn and assets, including amount of national savings, bank deposits, stock market shares and property of all individuals be put in computers along with their national identity card numbers and then be compared with the returns, filed by them,’ he said, adding that income of all sorts should be taxed without exemption after minus the personal expenditures.
Justice (R) Haziqul Khairi said that financial corruption was not the only corruption, but Safarish, Nepotism and misuse of power were also corruption.
Burhanuddin Hasan, former Managing Director of PTV Karachi said that terrorism in the name of religion and imparting wrong religious education were also corruption and equally dangerous to the country.
Eng. Anwarul Haq Siddiqui said that work should be done only on one single agenda and that was to curb the corruption.
M. Abdul Fazal, former diplomat said that money was the heart of corruption and the basic reasons of it were insecurity and class differences. There was a great corruption in Russia after the dismemberment of Soviet Union and a factory manager, who was getting a monthly salary of 500 Robles, became a billionaire within a night because he captured the factory of which he was a manager, he added. Nusrat Nasarullah, a seasoned journalist, was of the view that diagnosis of the basic reasons of corruption was prerequisite to find remedies of it.
Qudsia Akbar said that poverty, illiteracy and greed were the main reasons of corruption.
Col (R) Mukhtar Ahmed Butt stressed upon the curbing of intellectual corruption which was more damaging than financial corruption.
Com (R) Sadeed Anwar Malik was of the opinion that until and unless the curbing of corruption was not put on top in priority list of the government it would not be abolished from the country. Dr Abubakar Sheikh was of the view that change in social structure was needed to curb the corruption because white collar was involved in it.
