Govt yet to change people’s lot: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said the PTI government is still far away from giving the country the promised good governance and the rule of law as the rulers are still living in the world of dreams.

The plight of the common man remained unchanged while the government officials are engaged in fighting against each other, he said while addressing a meeting of JI central leadership at Mansoora on Wednesday.

He said that in the past, there used to be discussion on the system of the government but now new words and phrases were being coined to abuse one another. Sirajul Haq said the PTI came in power due to its slogan of accountability but it had made accountability a laughing stock. Not a single penny has been recovered from abroad, he added. He said had the 375 billion dollar of the Pakistanis lying abroad been retrieved, the rulers would have not need to beg for help from anywhere. He said that the government had not taken any step towards making the country like the state of Madina as the interest-based system was continuing and the government had not been able to fulfil any of its promises.

He said those in politics should do politics and not make politics a business. Politics of corruption have weakened the ideological politics in the country and the rules of politics are being trampled upon, he added.

He said that in the past, the police raids on the houses of politicians led to the recovery of books but now there was recovery of dollars. He said institutions had been set up for money laundering training and fake companies were offering easy means for the transfer of money abroad. The amnesty scheme was also a scheme of money laundering and the governments were issuing ads for that. He said that the banks had promoted corruption. If a poor man applied for loan to build a house or for the education of his children or for small business, he was refused but the known thugs and plunderers were easily granted loans of billions rupees which was never returned, the JI chief said.

Meanwhile, addressing a meeting of party delegations, JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said any attempt to steal the mandate of any party anywhere would end up in attack on the mandate of all parties. He said the government’s announcements of forming a forward bloc in Sindh were undemocratic. He said the ruling style of ministers especially the prime minister and their indifference towards parliament was providing an opportunity to the opposition parties to come together. Liaqat Baloch said February 5 would witness historic demonstrations to awaken the word community against the oppression of the Indian occupation forces in Held-Kashmir.