Expressing his deepest sense of grief and sorrow on the loss of precious lives and damage to property caused by recent floods, PAT chairman Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that the flood of government’s corruption is causing ravages everywhere. He said that rulers are a torment on the people as the flood is, adding that as long as they remain imposed on the masses, the poor farmers will not be able to get rid of flood-wrought destruction.

Dr Qadri expressed these views while talking to senior PAT leaders yesterday. He said that mega corruption is being committed in the name of construction of dykes and putting in place safety measures to avoid floods. He said that heaps of mud are dubbed as dykes which are swept away in the first tide of flood. He said that reality of these dykes will be exposed if they are got inspected technically in terms of compliance with standard operating procedures by any foreign firm.

The PAT chief said that it has been observed that every year, the influential families enjoying government’s patronage put the poor in harm’s way by letting them drown in floods to save their lands. He said that the report of judicial commission led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah established in the backdrop of super floods that swept through South Punjab in 2010, is enough to expose the true face of the rulers. He said that the report categorically held the Shahbaz Government responsible for destruction caused by floods.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that it is unfortunate that even this report has not been made public at the official level like the Model Town judicial commission report. He said that the people held responsible in the report were elevated to top positions and thus the Punjab government made fun of the court and law. He said that the rulers visit the flood hit areas every year for the purpose of photo sessions and feed the flood stricken people on the false promises. He said that the example of Muzaffargarh’s area of Rangpur is in front of us all where the Punjab Chief Minister announced the construction of a dyke amid a photo session which still remains to be constructed even to this day. He said that the people of the area are protesting this inordinate delay in fulfillment of promise, which we consider to be legitimate and extend our full support to them.

Dr Qadri said that the rulers have left the hundreds of thousands of people belonging to Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur at the mercy of merciless floods. He said that floods come everywhere sweeping away the imaginary planning of the rulers along with its tides. He said that no audit of these fake plans is conducted and thus billions of rupees released from the national kitty and those coming from foreign donors in the name of flood relief efforts are pocketed. He said that we demand that the money and funds received from foreign donors and countries in connection with relief and rehabilitation of flood victims during last ten years should be audited and its details are placed before the nation.