Gen. Musharraf apologises for accountability drive excesses

Musharraf said that his Government would bring out new lists of defaulters and those who are under investigation for corruption so that the confusion that exists is cleared.

Pakistan’s business community, especially the members of the stock exchange, have misgivings about the method adopted by the military authorities in nabbing defaulters of public loans.

While General Musharraf said that his Government’s priority was to nab those who had made away with loans taken from Government banks, the business community says that over-zealousGovernment officials targeted hundreds of innocent businessmen in the process.

Karachi Stock Exchange chairman, Yasin Lakhani, told the gathering that such moves hampered investor confidence in the country.

Businessmen were happy that the Pakistan strongman has accepted that the system was flawed and efforts are being to address the weak points.A close aide of the Pakistan leader and former head of the Central bank M Yaqub, who was seen as the main force behind the programme, resigned last week on allegations that the drive to recover Rs 211 billion from defaulters was not progressing well.

But Finance Minister Shokat Aziz said that the recoveries, which touched Rs 10 billion in cash settlements, were “very encouraging.”

Talking about the privatisation programme in the country, General Musharraf said that he wanted the benefits of the privatisation programme to filter down to the general public, and also wanted that the privatisation programme was more broad-based. “I want a wider degree ofownership so that the wealth is not concentrated in a few hands, and because of this a portion of the privatisation will be done through the stock exchange,” said Musharraf.