Govt on its way out: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said the government is a complete failure on all fronts and the ousted prime minister, who had been wielding all the powers, was responsible for that.

Talking to reporters after the opening session of the JI central Shoora at Mansoora on Tuesday, Sirajul Haq said the elections according to the schedule were the only way to steer the country out of the present uncertain situation.

The JI Ameer said that Nawaz Sharif had not appointed a full time foreign minister for over four years and instead kept the portfolio with himself. As such, he was to be blamed for the government’s failure to have good relations with the neighbouring countries. He said the ousted PM came into power for many times but failed to put any of the state institutions in order. He said the PML-N government was on its way out. Therefore, it should not take any major decision such as of the PIA privatisation. The JI chief alleged that the rulers’ blind slavery of the US resulted in the martyrdom of thousands of citizens, including the armed forces, and the country suffered financial loss to the tune of 130 billion dollars but the US was still hurling threats at the country.

He said the JI stood with the PAT Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri for the grant of justice to the 14 PAT workers killed in Model Town and a high-level JI delegation would join the PAT protest today (Wednesday). He said it was a matter of shame that the killers of 14 citizens at Model Town were neither traced nor any FIR was registered against them.

Sirajul Haq said that rigged and engineered elections would not be acceptable to the nation and any attempt to rig elections through ill-gotten wealth and abduction of the election staff or to change the election results would not succeed this time. He said it was high time to face the plunderers and thugs in the country’s politics in order to strengthen democratic system. He said the general public had lost confidence in the democratic system which had failed to provide them basic facilities of life. However, he said, there was no option except to run the country in accordance with the Constitution and to strictly observe merit.

The JI chief said the JI petition for the accountability of all those named in the Panama Leaks was pending before the Supreme Court as the accountability process was not complete with the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif. He said that the accountability would be complete only when the ill-gotten wealth of the plunderers was recovered. Sirajul said the government, the police and security agencies had lost the public trust due to their failure to trace Zainab’s killers so far. He said had the chief minister strong nerves, he would have visited Zainab’s residence in the broad daylight and offered his sympathies to her father.