Siraj blames flawed govt policies for crises

MINGORA: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq on Sunday said the country was facing numerous challenges due to the flawed foreign and economic policies of the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

Speaking at a ceremony in Jamia Haqqania Sangota in Swat, he reiterated his demand to form a commission under the chief justice of Pakistan to probe the Panama Leaks and offshore holdings charges against the prime minister and other people.

The JI chief said other politicians, bureaucrats and journalists were also involved in corruption. He said an estimated Rs12 billion was being misappropriated in Pakistan every day. He said mostly thieves and corrupt were sitting in parliament. “Most of the members of parliament have criminal backgrounds, evaded tax and involved in corrupt practices,” he added.

Rejecting the imposition of Customs Act, the JI chief said Malakand division had been passing through a difficult time for the last two decades. He said the militancy and frequent natural calamities played havoc in Malakand division, destroyed houses, crops and damaged other infrastructure in the last 20 years and demanded special attention of the government.

Sirajul Haq said the infrastructure was in a shaky condition and the residents lacked basic amenities. He added that the government should revamp the damaged infrastructure instead of shifting more burden to them in the form of new taxes.

He said the government had signed 32 agreements with the then rulers of Swat for merger of the state into Pakistan. He said it had also agreed that the government would not impose or collect any tax in the district.

The JI chief asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to prepare a summary for undoing the imposition of Customs Act in Malakand.He also urged the federal government to pay the arrears of Malakand amounting to Rs100 billion. He said the amount had been pledged for rehabilitation of the people displaced due to militancy and subsequent military operation against them in Malakand.Commenting on the Women Protection Bill passed by the Punjab Assembly, Senator Sirajul Haq alleged that the law was introduced to promote the interest of Western countries.