PDM govt breaks 49-year-old record of inflation: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Siraj-ul-Haq has said PDM leadership has done nothing for the masses in 11 months except getting quashed cases against them, while the PTI leadership did the same in its tenure and whoever joined it was purged of all corruption.

Sirajul Haq said the PDM, PPP and PTI governments made the nation a slave to the IMF. Today Pakistan's decisions are made by the clerks of the IMF. The PDM government broke the 49-year-old record of inflation, the value of the Pakistani rupee is even less than a trash piece of paper, and the currencies of all the countries in the region are ahead of us. Despite the decision of the Federal Shariah Court, the government increased the interest rate to 20% on the orders of the IMF, leaving 30 million flood victims alone, increasing the prices of medicines by 300%, today for the poor.

The politico-economic situation became worse in the PTI era and now it has become the worst, he said while addressing a press conference at Mansoora on Sunday after the conclusion of a three-day meeting of JI Central Shoora.

Siraj said that JI would announce its manifesto to make Pakistan a modern Islamic welfare state at the convention of ticket holders from all over the country in Islamabad on March 14. He demanded the government immediately announce general elections in the entire country to save vitally needed public money. He lamented that there was no such thing as accountability in the country as all bigwigs were being exonerated from criminal and corruption cases. The three so-called major parties have practically nothing to offer to the people, and Jamaat-e-Islami is the only option which can get the country out of economic trouble.

He said same day transparent elections are the only way to move towards solving country’s problems, but warned that the establishment must refrain from interfering in the election process to avoid making the present economic mess further disastrous. In the past, the establishment imposed PTI, PML-N or PPP on the nation for vested interests which proved disastrous. He demanded all institutions including judiciary, establishment and election commission to become completely neutral from politics.

He said the situation of the national economy is disastrous, the poor are facing unbearable burden and committing suicides of starvation or forced to commit crimes to feed themselves. He demanded Election Commission to complete the municipal elections of Karachi at the earliest, adding that JI would not allow anyone to steal the mandate of the City through bullying and rigging. He gave an ultimatum of five days to the Election Commission to hold by-elections on 11 seats and declare results of six seats; otherwise, JI would stage a sit-in outside Provincial Election Commission office on March 10. He alleged that Sindh government which committed pre- poll rigging, was still not desisting from manipulating the election process.

Reiterating his demand of ensuring basic rights to the people of Gwadar and immediate release of Maulana Hidayat Rehman and his associates, Siraj threatened that if Maulana Hidayat Rahman and associates were not released, and fake cases against them not withdrawn, a protest sit-in would be staged in Quetta on March 9. He reiterated that JI stands with the people of Balochistan and people of Gwadar should not be considered abandoned.

He said today the poor and middle class people are forced to starve, they cannot send their children to school, while on the other hand the rulers are not ready to reduce their protocols and privileges, and the brigade of 85 members of the cabinet are living like royal colonials. He alleged that these rulers and bureaucrats are the criminals of the entire nation, who have amassed illicit wealth, built properties abroad and deprived the people of even their basic rights.

JI leaders Liaquat Baloch, Prof Muhammad Ibrahim, Ameer-ul-Azeem, Maulana Abdul Haq Hashmi, Muhammad Hussain Mehnti, Muhammad Asghar, Bakhtiar Maani, Qaiser Sharif were also present.