Siraj blames mainstream political parties for country’s woes

HARIPUR/ SWABI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Friday held the three mainstream political parties responsible for the country’s economic woes and other problems.

He was speaking at separate gatherings in Haripur and Swabi districts in connection with the February 8 elections.

He addressed the participants of a public meeting at a local marque in Haripur after the district administration did not allow the party to hold election meetings at an open public place.

The JI leader said that PPP, PMLN and PTI as well as some military dictators, who ruled the country for 76 years, had led the country to geographical and economic destruction.

“The nation is under a debt of Rs 80,000 billion. And the country has no option but to allocate Rs7000 billion out of Rs14000 billion of the total national budget for debt repayment,” he added.

The JI’s chief said that 100 million Pakistanis were living below the poverty line, educated youths were jobless, over 20 million children unable to attend the school while every 5th Pakistani was made to drink health hazardous water.

Calling the three parties stooges of the international establishment, the JI’s leader also referred to Panama Leaks, Pandora Box and Toshakhana to prove his point that the three mainstream political parties had in fact robbed the country off during their tenures allegedly.

Talking about the judicial system, he said that 1.8 million cases were pending for decisions in the courts and the judiciary ranked 129th in terms of performance globally.

He also discussed in detail the healthcare problems, losses of PIA, Railway, price hike and joblessness in the country and held three mainstream political parties and military dictatorship responsible for all the ills.

He urged the people to vote for JI if they wanted to bring the system based on justice, equality.

Earlier, addressing a public gathering in Swabi, he said, “We will end non-development expenses and protocol culture and no one will be allowed to indulge in corruption.’

“All political leaders say that the situation in the country is perturbed but they failed to adopt a clear policy,” he said.

He said that Pakistan had been facing the worst economic situation owing to the wrong policies of the rulers.

“We are totally dependent on foreign aid and donor agencies,” he said, adding that the PIA, Steel Mills, Pakistan Railways and other institutions have been running in losses. “These rulers have no vision and capability to correct things,” he added.