Siraj rejects rulers’ claim of economic progress

LAHORE :JI ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said the so-called economic stability the federal interior minister is talking about is nowhere to be seen and the plight of general public in the country is deteriorating with every passing day as people are increasingly find it hard to make both ends meet. 

Addressing a meeting of the party delegations at Mansoora on Monday, Sirajul Haq said almost half of the country’s population was living below the poverty line and eighty per cent people had no access to clean drinking water. He said the agricultural and industrial produce had fallen considerably during the last few years and the water shortage crisis was looming large over the agriculture sector. There was steep rise in the imports while the exports were negligible, and the foreign exchange reserves were falling fast, he said and added in such a situation, rulers’ claims of economic progress were tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the poor masses.

Earlier, Iranian Counsel General in Lahore, Majeed Sadeqi Dowlatabadi, called on Sirajul Haq at Mansoora and discussed with him the bilateral relations between the two countries besides prevailing situation in the region. Speaking on the occasion, Sirajul Haq said all the Muslim countries in South Asia including Iran and Pakistan were facing serious security threats which could only be countered through mutual unity and cooperation. He said Satanic forces had always desired to pit brothers against brothers, and urged up all the Muslim countries to strive to end the misgivings and differences among them.

Sirajul Haq said JI was an ideological party whose founding principle was the desire of forging unity among the Ummah, and it would continue to do its best to achieve this goal. He said all the countries of the region would have to make joint efforts to wipe out tyranny and aggression.

Iranian Consul General said he would try to make best possible efforts to discharge his duties for strengthening the ties between Iran and Pakistan. He said Muslim world’s policies towards the US were not changed with the change of faces in the US. He said his country had successfully faced all the challenges in the past and would do so in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, Senator Sirajul Haq expressed deep grief over the martyrdom of Capt Hasnain and three other troops in the mine blast in Kurram Agency. He said the martyrs’ families were the pride of the entire nation. He said by laying down their lives, these martyrs had given the message that the security of the country and the nation was dearer to them than their own lives. He prayed for the martyrs and expressed condolences with their families.

confrontation: JI secretary-general Liaqat Baloch has demanded of the ruling party to unconditionally surrender to the process of accountability and normalise its relationship with the state institutions as any extra constitutional step would not benefit any side. 

He was addressing the organisers of JI’s Azme Nau Convention scheduled for October 22. He said the government itself had chosen the path of confrontation with the institutions, adding it was the collective responsibility of all sides to protect the Constitution and the democratic system. He said the government and the rulers should refrain from victimising the masses and jeopardising the system. He noted that all the religious and political parties had developed consensus on National Action Plan and the responsibility was entrusted to the armed forces and the security institutions. Therefore, he said, it was the right of the military leadership to comment on the deteriorating economy of the country. He said the country was facing embarrassment at the international level as the government was unwilling to remove its finance minister tried in an accountability court. He urged the ruling party to correct its affairs instead of trying to hide its failures and added Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and former interior minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan had been repeatedly talking of that.