ISLAMABAD: Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Sirajul Haq on Tuesday gave the federal government the deadline of December 31 for implementation on Fata reforms and bringing the tribal areas into the national mainstream. Addressing the participants of the long march, which ended at the China Chowk, on Tuesday morning, the JI leader said the people of Fata and party workers from across the country would set up city of tents in the federal capital to create a permanent sit-in in Islamabad if their demands on Fata reforms are not accepted.
During his speech, Siraj also reminded the PML-N government about the 1996 long march of Jamaat which was led by then Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad which ultimately resulted in the end of Benazir Bhutto government after a few days.
Siraj, however, promised that the JI’s next long march and sit-in, which would start on December 31, would not create any hardships for the common man. But they would not allow the government to continue its function as the President House and the PM House would also be locked down.
The opposition leader in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah, also reached the China Chowk to express solidarity with the people of tribal areas and other protesters. He also criticised the PML-N government for delaying tactics in passage of Fata reforms bill by the National Assembly, which he said was an injustice with Fata people.
Earlier, the JI long march which had started from Bab-e-Khyber near Peshawar on Sunday, entered Islamabad via Taxila and Faizabad Interchange and ended at the China Chowk, about a kilometer distance from D Chowk. The protest rally from Faizabad to China Chowk continued without any break amid heavy rain with small intervals.
The JI top leader was accompanied by other leaders including JI parliamentary leader in the NA Tariqullah, Naib Ameer Mian Aslam, KP province Ameer Mushtaq Khan and others.