He also reiterated that he held the “system” responsible for the alleged corruption and not any particular government.
Abbasi — who is part of a group of political mavericks holding a series of nationwide seminars on the current challenges being faced by the country — had alleged at a seminar at Lahore’s Government College University on Saturday that Rs20bn was looted during the free flour distribution programme, first rolled out in Punjab.
He had said: “Recently, Rs84bn worth of [free] flour was distributed. I am sorry to say that approximately Rs20bn was looted. Look at it any which way. What has the poor man gotten for whom you spent Rs84bn?”
Abbasi had said it was impossible to deliver on promises within the current system of governance and called for it to be “redefined”.
“The whole system needs to be changed. It has become so corrupt that it cannot deliver, whether in the Centre or the provinces.”
Although the PML-N leader had not singled out the Punjab government, provincial Interim Information Minister Amir Mir had issued a statement on Saturday and termed Abbasi’s allegations “false and fabricated”. Separately, the province’s food department had also denied any corruption.
Speaking in an interview today ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’ today, Abbasi reiterated that in his remarks, he meant to attribute the corruption to the “system”.
“I was talking about the governing system which has become so corrupt,” he added, clarifying that he was not talking about any government in particular.
Abbasi said the system had become so corrupt that even a “well-intentioned” initiative of the prime minister was not spared.
“There is more than 30 per cent corruption in the Punjab Food Department. This is not today’s but has been [present] since it (the department) was formed and has kept increasing since.”
Based on this observation, he said, he estimated that around 25pc of the funds allocated for the flour distribution programme would be looted.
“The PM sahib approved Rs84bn for it (the flour distribution programme), and I estimated that Rs20bn will be looted.
“And I am honestly telling you that the 25pc figure is undervalued,” he added.
Abbasi further said that elections were not a solution to this problem.
“It is not a matter of elections or who is in power or the government but the rot in the system,” he said.
Free flour scheme
In March, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that “the poorest of the poor” would get wheat flour (Atta) for free during Ramazan. The package was first implemented in Punjab and then in other parts of the country.
The prime minister had directed the authorities to chalk out a strategy for the supply of flour to poor families “as soon as possible”.
However, the programme was marred by violence and deaths as citizens thronged distribution points amid a significant increase in inflation in the country. Incidents of stampedes, chaos and snatching of flour bags at the distribution points were reported from various towns of the province.
Earlier this month, the Punjab caretaker government succumbed to the pressure of the federal authorities and approved the expansion of the project at an additional cost of Rs35bn.
The package was to initially cost around Rs53bn to the provincial kitty as the government was to release 537,000 tonnes of wheat from its stocks to the flour mills for grinding and providing the commodity at the distribution points. The operational cost – administration, security and transportation – of the project was estimated to be Rs7bn.
Sources said that neither the Punjab government nor bureaucracy was in favour of the scheme in its present form which was leading to deaths and injuries to the deserving people due to overcrowding and mismanagement at the distribution points.
Officials engaged in the flour distribution also blamed the Punjab Information Technology Board’s ‘flawed’ app developed on the database of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the inordinate delays in the distribution of the commodity.
Sources said the provincial authorities made an abortive attempt to convince the premier in their March 7 meeting that deserving people should instead be paid in cash through the BISP database or provided subsidies in the powers bills for offsetting the impact of the historically high inflation.
They said the prime minister was also suggested that the subsidy on the flour which the Punjab government was already providing to the masses before setting in of Ramazan at a rate of Rs648 per 10kg bag, could be further increased to facilitate the downtrodden to avoid the mess likely to be caused by the free flour distribution at the makeshift points.
But, the premier rejected this option too and insisted on implementing the plan he desired to introduce.
Former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says all the political parties in the current government have failed to give a better and competent cabinet.
“We could not form a 10-member competent people’s cabinet to run the affairs of the country smoothly,” he lamented and added that the people who did not have any ability were made ministers in the cabinet.
Abbasi said the institutions were not working within their constitutional limits and all the systems of the country had failed due to failure of the leadership. He bemoaned the lack of vision in the leadership to bring about changes to the system to solve problems of the country facing existential crisis.
The former prime minister was addressing a seminar on ‘Reimagining Pakistan’ at the Government College University (GCU) on Saturday. The seminar was a part of ‘The Great Debate 2023’ to discuss the problems of the country and their solutions.
Former federal finance minister and PML-N leader Miftah Ismail was the other speaker who predicted that the country, facing economic problems, would take years to address its issues.Mr Abbasi lamented that the political differences in the country were becoming personal differences. He said no better decision was coming to bring about betterment in Pakistan and the country could not move forward without mutual cooperation of the institutions.
“I have seen 24 chief justices and nine army chiefs and all were gone but there are still the same problems,” he said.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said a secretary (bureaucrat) could not run the affairs without political vision and political leadership did not have any vision to lead the country. He termed those involved in making and destabilising the governments responsible for the current situation.
“There is a need to bring about reforms in bureaucracy for better working. No federal government employee wants to work in the federal government and they all prefer to work with the provincial government,” he painted a dark picture.
The former prime minister suggested changes to the rules of business of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as no secretary was ready to prepare a summary for the prime minister because he feared being arrested later on.
“Rs20bn were looted during the free floor distribution programme,” he said.
He said the judiciary would have to earn back its respect.
Speaking on the occasion, Miftah Ismail said the country would have to pay Rs20bn to 25bn in debt every year and the world was not in favour of giving debt to Pakistan, which could not stop its growing population. He lamented that no foreigner wanted to invest in Pakistan.
Mr Ismail said the successive governments had failed to provide the people with basic health and education. He said the circular debt increased every year even after better management by the PTI and PML-N governments. The PIA would have to face a Rs90bn deficit during the current year.
The former finance minister said only 30,000 traders out of 2.2m were paying tax. “I had to face the wrath of traders for imposing tax on them during our government,” he recalled.
Retired justice Nasira Javed said that there would be a lawless situation without true implementation of the Constitution. She said: “there should be a solution to the confrontation between parliament and the judiciary”.
She urged the political leaders to find a solution to avoid confrontation between the parliament and the judiciary.