Siraj seeks right to vote for expats

LAHORE

Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq demanded the government immediately grant the right to vote to overseas Pakistanis working hard to strengthen the economy with their valuable remittances.

Addressing a representative meeting of overseas Pakistanis working in Europe, US,  Africa and Arab countries at Mansoorah on Saturday, he demanded the Election Commission to make necessary arrangements for  Pakistanis abroad to cast their vote in the 2018 elections. He said denying overseas Pakistanis the voting right despite the growing demand of major political parties was unreasonable. 

Sirajul Haq appreciated Pope Francis’ positive statement about Islam and said the Pontiff had made a realistic statement which was being appreciated widely. However, he said people like Donald Trump were hurling wild accusations against Islam and Muslims and were out to spread hatred against Muslims. He said Islam is a religion of peace and love and justice and every attempt to smear its bright face would fail.  He said linking Islam and Muslims with terrorism was tantamount to destroying world peace. “We are in favour of dialogue on all disputes facing the world today and strongly condemn unjustified killings and insult of humanity,” he added.

Sirajul Haq termed the overseas Pakistanis ambassadors of Islam and Pakistan abroad and urged them to apprise the world community of the UN resolutions in support of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. He appealed to the overseas Pakistanis to transfer their investment to the country so that Pakistan could get rid of IMF and World Bank slavery. He assured them the country would soon be free of corruption and the corrupt system of government.

He noted that Pakistanis abroad were remitting foreign exchange to the tune of 19 billion dollars to the country annually. However, he said the rulers plundered a major portion of the wealth to foreign banks.

He said JI’s movement against corruption and corrupt rulers had won massive public support and the days of the corrupt rulers were numbered. Sirajul Haq said rulers were not ready for accountability and were issuing -statements only to gain time. However, he said masses would not allow them to run away from accountability.

JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said JI’s drive against corruption had created an awakening among the masses and exposed corrupt elements. He said the masses wanted an end to corruption and strict accountability. Baloch said the JI was of the view that the government and opposition parties should not give an impression of trying to escape from setting up a judicial commission for probe the Panama leaks. He said that instead of raising insignificant issues, the opposition should pressurise the government on the judicial commission.

He said that the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had given a hint of summoning the Parliamentary Committee on August 9 and added that now it was Prime Minister’s responsibility to end the crisis and uncertainty and remove hurdles to the judicial commission on accountability.

To a question, he said although the opposition parties had the same stance on national issues, yet no new common platform had been formed so far.  He said the JI supported the protests of PAT and PTI against  corruption.