Pak activist to mount Hazare-style protest

Gaining renewed inspiration from the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement in India, a 68-year-old Pakistani businessman and social activist has decided to launch a similar "fast-unto-death" against corruption and heavy military spending in his country, which apart from depleting finances is also fomenting militarisation in South Asia.

Raja Jahangir Akhtar said he is hoping that his protest will lead to the introduction of an anti-corruption bill in Pakistan's parliament on the lines of the Jan Lokpal legislation sought by Hazare.

Corruption is seen as the topmost problem confronting Pakistan's people, after terrorism; while military spending accounts for over 40 per cent of the budget each year.

Akhtar has been known for his espousal of social issues for over three decades and has been arrested on many occasions, even being sentenced to one year's imprisonment and a flogging of 10 lashes by a military court during the Zia-ul-Haq regime in the early 80s.

"I had campaigned against corruption in the past, but I surrendered. Seeing Anna Hazare and the people of India standing up against corruption has given me the courage to take up this cause again," Akhtar, the owner of a shop in Islamabad's Super Market, told an Indian news agency.

At the same time, he said that his protest was entirely home-grown and had nothing to do with the ongoing Hazare-related developments in India. But he hastened to add that he personally fully backs Hazare's demands in India.

Akhtar will begin his fast on 12 September, at the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramzan.