JI holds Awami March in Lahore: We’ll rid country of inflation, joblessness, IMF, says Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami chief said on Sunday his party had launched the Awami March, the mass agitation campaign, against the pressing national issues like price-hike, joblessness and “slavery” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In this regard, a rally was held at The Mall road here, led by JI ameer Senator Sirajul Haq and other party leaders. Addressing the workers including women and children outside the Punjab Assembly, Sirajul Haq announced organising the nation against injustice and oppression by the successive governments for the last 70 years.

He announced launching a full-fledged movement by holding such marches in all cities of the country with the next Awami March in Faisalabad on June 23. However, he clarified that the JI movement would be strictly directed towards its objective of freeing masses from the oppressive policies of the rulers like price-hike and “IMF slavery”, adding that it would not join any campaign aiming at securing the release of politicians and bureaucrats serving jail terms on charges of corruption and plundering of public money.

He said the government had removed elected finance minister Asad Umar, inducted the “IMF agents” in his place in the financial management of the country and handed over the keys of public exchequer to them.

The charged participants were chanting slogans against the rulers, slavery of the world financial bodies and Western countries, and carried banners condemning the unending price-hike, ever-increasing unemployment. JI Secretary General Amirul Azeem and JI naib ameer Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha were also present. JI Lahore chief Zikrullah Mujahid also addressed the rally.

Sirajul Haq said the current budget had resulted in sharp raise in the prices of essential items, including pulses, atta, sugar, cement and cooking oil and multiplied the miseries of the common man. The prices of medicines had also increased tremendously, while the government also raised the expenses of Hajj and Umrah to hurt people’s religious sentiments.

Siraj said in the next budget, a huge sum of Rs2,828 billion would go to payment of interest on foreign loans. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had claimed that running the governing the country was not difficult for his team, and he would provide instant relief by retrieving the plundered public wealth from the foreign banks. He said if the PM was aware of the hardships of masses, especially hunger and poverty, he would not have uttered these words.

He reminded that Imran Khan had also detested the previous rulers’ begging from the IMF and vowed to commit suicide instead of going to the world financial body for loans, but now he had placed the entire economic system and the public exchequer in the hands of the IMF. The JI chief lamented that despite promising to make the country Madina-like state, the PM had taken steps exactly in the opposite direction.