Sirajul Haq calls economic package delayed, peanuts

LAHORE:Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has warned that PTI government had wasted valuable time in giving the much-talked-about economic package to the poor people, and in view of the fears of more delay in the relief reaching the people, they might die of hunger instead of coronavirus.

If Prime Minister Imran Khan would give people the magic formula of surviving in Rs 3,000 relief amount, he could receive a Nobel Prize for that, Sirajul Haq said while addressing a meeting of provincial ameers of the party and other office-bearers via video link from Mansoora on Thursday.

The government would shortly receive 1.5 billion dollar aid from world agencies; its import bill would also decline by 10 billion dollar, besides it was the direct beneficiary of the record slump in oil prices, yet the relief it was going to pass on to the masses was peanuts as compared to its own benefits, he said. He demanded the government give relief to the people open heartedly. He said the government must give minimum Rs15,000 per family subsistence allowance, waive two months bills of power, gas, water etc.

He said the masses were complaining the government raised the prices of electricity in the current month instead of reducing its rates. Sirajul Haq said the government should have been grateful to the opposition for extending unconditional support to it, but he lamented that the PM was displaying non-serious and arrogant attitude.

Siraj praised the relief work of Al-Khidmat Foundation for providing ration to the poor, besides the masks, sanitizer and other essential items across the country. He also reviewed the ongoing activities. He directed the provincial heads to monitor the relief activities and extend every help to the local administration.

He also praised the spirit and sacrifices of doctors and health professionals busy in treating the coronavirus affectees in government and private hospitals across the country. He called them frontline soldiers of the nation in the war against corona. He paid tributes to Dr Osama who lost his life while saving the coronavirus patients. He demanded the government give him ‘Nishan-e-Jurrat’ award for his sacrifice.

Meanwhile, JI Naib Ameer Liaqat Baloch lamented that Prime Minister Imran Khan sabotaged the vital meeting of parliamentary parties’ leadership in National Assembly convened by Speaker Asad Qaiser and opposition parties. Talking to the media while monitoring the delivery of ration to the poor families, he alleged Imran Khan had been consistently displaying confused stance on vital national problem, causing complications and confusion on social and administrative levels.

He was of the view the PM had failed in creating national consensus on the vital national issues in the past and was still unmoved despite the serious threats of coronavirus.