JI holds Nawaz responsible for government’s failure

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq has said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was a complete failure on all fronts and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had been wielding all the powers, was responsible for that.

Talking to the media after the opening session of the JI central Shoora in Mansoora, he said that holding elections according to the schedule was the only way to steer country out of the present uncertain situation.

Sirajul Haq said that Nawaz Sharif had not appointed a full-time foreign minister for over four years and instead kept the foreign portfolio with himself. He said, “As such he was to be blamed for the government’s failure to have good relations with the neighbouring countries.”

He said that the ousted premier came into power for many times but failed to put any of the state institutions in order. He said that the PML-N government was on its way out. “Therefore, it should not take any major decision such as of the privatisation of the PIA,” he added.

The JI chief said that the rulers’ blind slavery of the US resulted in the martyrdom of thousands of citizens, including the armed forces’ personnel, and the country suffered financial losses amounting to $130 billion, but the US was still issuing threats to the country.

He said that the JI stood with the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri for the grant of justice to the 14 PAT workers killed in the Model Town and a high-level JI delegation would join the PAT protest on Jan 17. He said it was a matter of shame that the killers of fourteen citizens were not 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 that 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 Haq said that 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 if Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had strong nerves, he would have visited Zainab’s residence in the broad daylight and offered his sympathies to her father.