PTI govt imposed on people: JI leader

NOWSHERA: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial head Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said on Monday that 25 July 2018 was the blackest day in the country’s parliamentary history as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was imposed on the people on this day.

“Incompetent rulers were imposed on the nation in order to promote the US agenda and protect the sugar, flour and oil mafias,” he said while addressing a well-attended sit-in of his party at the Shobra Chowk here. The JI had announced holding protest demonstrations and sit-ins across the province against corruption, price-hike, sugar and flour crises and unemployment. JI Youth Wing provincial head Sadiqur Rahman Paracha, JI Nowshera head Rifaqatullah, Maulana Samiur Rahman Yousafi, Inayatur Rahman, Iftikhar Ahmad Khan and others spoke on the occasion.

Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said that inefficient rulers had undermined all the sectors in the country, including education and health, while the corrupt elements were let loose to commit loot and plunder with impunity. “Prime Minister Imran Khan and his entire cabinet would have been behind bars had impartial accountability been held as mega corruption was committed in the Malam Jabba land scam, Billion Tree Tsunami, Bus Rapid Transit and Qazi Medical Complex projects,” he alleged. The government, he maintained, was using the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to harass its political adversaries. He added the country’s anti-graft watchdog had become controversial and lost its credibility in the eyes of the people.

Alleging that irregularities were committed in the recruitment of staff at Qazi Medical Complex, he claimed that as many as 144 people were given jobs in violation of merit and rules. He also accused the Customs officials of protecting the smugglers and harassing innocent people at checkpoints on the Grand Trunk Road in the limits of Nowshera. “The Customs officials are facilitating smugglers. They cause a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer every year,” he alleged. “The prevailing circumstances demand us to rise against the protectors of the corrupt elements,” he said, warning the government to rein in the mafias or be ready to face the music.

The JI senator lamented that the ones, who had pledged allegiance to the US and UK, had been inducted into the federal cabinet. Accusing Prime Minister Imran Khan of implementing the agenda of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said the premier, who claimed to be the ambassador of Kashmiris, facilitated the Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav through an ordinance.