ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Tuesday said he is prepared to face accountability and will take steps to uproot corruption and extend all kind of assistance to Auditor General of Pakistan.

Speaking at the floor of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister said he went to the Office of Auditor General on Monday as nowadays corruption was being discussed in the print and electronic media. Chairman Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was present during his visit to the office of Auditor General, he added.

“We told the Auditor General that we are ready to extend all kind of support to him as we believe in strong institutions,” he said.

Gilani underlined the need for strengthening the office of Auditor General and said audit should not be conducted of the last fifteen years but of the present time.

He offered that audit should be started from PM secretariat.

“When parliament is strengthened, then committees will also become strong,” he said adding Public Accounts Committee is the most important committee of the House and it is like judiciary, which can take suo moto notice on any issue.

The Prime Minister said committees of the house should be made more effective.

“We should be answerable to the house. Right now I have sacked the Chairman Steel Mills and I asked the Interior Ministry to probe affairs of the mills and submit a report,” he added.

He said without conducting the national census, the country could not make forward movement.

“I myself brought the issue to the cabinet for discussion but there were reservations from members of FATA, NWFP.”

Gilani said as the situation in FATA and NWFP is not conducive, holding of census is delayed for two to three months until normalization of the situation.

The cabinet will reconsider the issue of census as it is very important to assess human resources, employment situation and gathering of all kind of statistics. LINK