Rulers responsible forprotests, sit-ins: Siraj

LAHORE:Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has held the rulers responsible for the protests and sit-ins against them, saying people are expressing anger because of wrong and directionless policies of the PTI government.

“No one but the government itself has compelled the traders, doctors, teachers and political activists to take to the streets against it. The anti-government agitations have put the ruling party under severe pressure,” said the Siraj while addressing the members of JI Youth Executive Council at Mansoora here on Sunday. JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim, JI Naib ameer Liaqat Baloch and other leaders also attended the meeting.

Senator Siraj said the politics and democracy were in the control of few families since the birth of Pakistan. The members of the same elite families were the part of every government no matter if it was a civilian or military rule, he added.

The JI chief said that those who expected the government would bring any change in the country were actually living in fool’s paradise. Every member of the prime minister’s team, he added, had served in Pervaiz Musharraf cabinet. So, he said, expecting miracles from the already tested faces was tantamount to deceiving oneself.

The country, said Siraj, was in the grip of capitalists and feudal lords and the PTI was the true representative of status quo. He said there was not any difference in the policies the governments of the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI. He said Pakistan could not be put on the path of progress without getting rid of the prevailing political hierarchy ruling over the country for decades. He said the corrupt political elite and the IMF-led economic policies were main hurdles in the country’s development.

The JI chief said the government failed to introduce an impartial system of accountability due to the fear that its own members would come under the radar if a neutral and powerful anti-graft system came into effect. He said a strong impression was built that the government was politically victimising its opponents in the name of so-called anti-corruption campaigns.

Sirajul Haq regretted that government and opposition put on back burner the Kashmir cause and the real issues of inflation and unemployment and were indulging in petty politics. He said Indian Held Kashmir was turned into a largest jail with eight millions Kashmiris as prisoners but the rulers had not taken a single bold step in support of the oppressed people of the area.