JI decides to stay away from APC: Sirajul Haq

LAHORE : Jamaat-e-Islami has decided to stay away from opposition parties’ All Parties Conference (APC), describing its agenda as vague and objectives as dubious.

“The JI could not sit with those parties which are equally responsible with the PTI for economic and social destruction of the country, and dubiously supported the legislative agenda of PTI to push the country in the slavery of colonial powers,” said JI ameer Senator Sirajul Haq while addressing Mujahid-e-Millat seminar in memory of late Maulana Abdus Satar Niazi on Saturday.

Sirajul Haq expressed doubts on the real objective of Sunday’s APC, saying the meeting could not come forward with a clear and solid strategy to bring the country out of crises. However, he said, holding the APC was the democratic right of the opposition parties and one could only hope it would made some positive impact on future politics. He said the opposition parties gathering must present their programme before the masses aimed at ridding them from the problems and crises they faced. He said two major opposition parties tactfully backed the government proposed FATF-related legislation in the National Assembly and the Senate despite knowing that the laws would push the country in the permanent slavery of the global capitalists and colonial powers.

The PML-N and the PPP, he said, failed to play the role of real opposition and represent the masses aspirations, as they hardly raised the issues pertaining to the plight of public in past two years. He said it had been proved that the three major parties were the sides of the same coin and representative of the class which had been ruling Pakistan for decades.

These ruling elite, he said, had nothing to do with the quandary of the masses rather their all politics revolved around saving their personal and petty interests. He said the JI would never hesitate to be the part of joint opposition parties if they decided to challenge the government policy and raise genuine problems of the people.

Senator Siraj held the prime minister responsible for increase in crimes in Punjab. He said the prime minister imposed incapable team on the province which destroyed the already fragile sectors through worst governance. He said people of Pakistan were fed up now from the status quo parties and longed for the real change. He said a system based on the true principles of Islam was a way forward to put Pakistan on the path of development. He said the enemies of Islam and Pakistan were conspiring to spread sectarian violence in the country. He said the religious scholars should play their role to intact the environment of peace and harmony in the country.

Meanwhile, JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim has said bringing genuine Islamic revolution in the country is the ultimate goal of JI.

Addressing a ceremony to welcome the leaders of different parties joining the JI on Saturday, he said people had tested all the major political parties in past many decades and now they wanted a real change. He said the feudal lords, imperialist class always were the part of three big parties and skipping one to join another remained their practice for years. He said the JI would appear a biggest political force in coming local government elections.

Meanwhile, JI naib ameer Liaqat Baloch said the unity of the opposition parties on solid pro-public agenda could make some positive impact on the future politics as it was not a question who was attending the APC and who was addressing it. He said holding the APC was the constitutional and political right of the opposition parties. But, he said, the so far politics of the mainstream opposition parties proved that they and the government were on the same page when it came to the slavery of the country before the international power.