Sirajul Haq for strict action against sugar mafia

By Our Correspondent
June 05, 2020

LAHORE:Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said strict action is needed against the direct beneficiaries (sugar mill owners) and against those in the PTI government who sanctioned billions of rupees subsidy to sugar mill owners.

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Chairing a meeting of the party leadership at Mansoora on Thursday, he lamented that the unusual delay in action against those involved in sugar scandal suggested PTI government was trying to protect the sugar mafias and their patrons in the bureaucracy who have sucked the blood of the masses for years.

Why the successive governments paid the subsidies to sugar mills despite knowing they were involved in corporate fraud, he questioned, adding it had been proved that those who were sitting in the corridors of power and those who were running sugar units were one family and two sides of the same coin.

Senator Siraj said the JI would continue its campaign against inflation, unemployment and corruption. He said an interest free economy was the key to put the country on the path of the development. He asked for seeking forgiveness of Allah Almighty to get rid of Corona virus.

The meeting, which was attended by the JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim and other leadership, warned rulers against rapid increase in unemployment, saying over 17 million people were expected to become jobless due to Coronavirus pandemic.

The businesses were closing down and employment opportunities were vanishing in private sector, it said, demanding rulers must develop policies and allocate maximum resources in the budget to mitigate the challenge.

The ministries and government departments were asked to cut their non-developmental expenditure and call was made for generous allocations to the sectors of food security, education and health.

Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami naib ameer Liaqat Baloch expressed sorrow that PTI government had not passed any benefit of reduction in prices of petroleum products to the masses. He said the prices of essential food items were still touching the sky prices and government failed to provide relief to public.

He said ill-planning and mismanagement at part of the policy makers were main reason behind the rapid increase in spread of infection in the country. He also expressed regret over the fragile and politically motivated accountability system.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami naib ameer Dr Farid Paracha termed the report of the Punjab health department about number of Covid-19 infected people in Lahore a dangerous approach of the government to fulfill its negative objective.

He said the official figures only established government helplessness before the public. The masses, he stated, were desperate over arrangements in hospitals and they were feeling no difference in visiting a hospital and graveyard. He sought clarification over the reports that an Israel firm had conducted the survey and research on virus presence in the different cities of the province.

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