PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) has described the government’s claim of fighting corruption a farce and alleged that accountability is used as a tool to victimise the opposition.

QWP provincial chairman Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao in a statement here on Tuesday referred to the internal audit report highlighting glaring irregularities in a project of revenue enhancement for Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) and said that the accountability needed to be across the board.

He said that no action was taken against the people responsible for awarding contract for the project to their blue eyed boys that inflected huge losses on the civic body.

The QWP leader said that mantra of fighting corruption was a ploy to deceive people and harass political opponents. He said that formation of a committee to probe the matter was meant to hush up the issue.

The PTI government, he said, was not serious about eradicating corruption rather it was using accountability as a tool to victimise the opposition.

Citing media reports, the QWP provincial chief said that a survey was conducted through a private firm at a cost of Rs11 million in 2015 to enhance the revenue of WSSP. The contract for the survey was awarded to the same company for Rs29 million in 2018, he added.

Quoting the internal audit report and the findings of an internal committee, he said that the survey did not bring any benefit to the company despite the fact that huge amount of money was spent on conducting it.

The QWP leader said that government failed to provide any relief to the people. The ruling party didn’t honour a single pledge made with the people before the last general elections, he added.

“Corruption is rampant which has belied the claims of PTI to introduce a system based on justice,” he remarked. He said that government had forgotten its prime duty to provide relief to the poverty-hit people. He added that government was using the slogan of accountability to divert public attention from its weaknesses.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2021