London: Pakistani cricketer-turned
-politician Imran Khan wants Britain to stop giving millions of pounds in aid to his country, alleging that such aid encouraged corruption while being of no help to the people.
Speaking to BBC today, he said his country was more poor than ever because the millions of pounds of aid never reached the target.
After the latest review of international aid, Britain
plans to increase its annual aid to Pakistan from 140
million pounds to 350 million pounds over the next few years.
This aid is to be tied to progress on reforms.
Khan, who identified corruption as one of the major
issues in his country in a recent interview, said, "If we
don't have aid we will be forced to make reforms and stand on
our own feet."
Aid money, he said, propped up corrupt governments, and added, "Unfortunately, aid has been a curse for Pakistan.
Total aid is about 20 billion dollars. This 20 billion dollars
is not helping the people of Pakistan".
Khan earlier told the BBC that Pakistan should also
not accept aid from the US.
PTI
First Published: Monday, September 26, 2011, 16:33