Ruling elite responsible for people’s miseries: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq has said the ruling elite of the last 73 years is responsible for the poverty and miseries of the masses. It was time people took a firm stand against the forces of status quo to put the country on the development track.

Addressing a workers convention on Friday, he said religious scholars, students, labourers and small farmers must play their role in transforming the country into an Islamic welfare state dreamt by the country’s founding fathers. He said the PTI which lured voters for ‘change and justice’ also proved itself the agent of the same status quo, continuing the policies of the predecessors and burdening the country with billions of dollars’ foreign debt. He said the mini budget before the holy month of Ramadan reflects the government’s cruelty for people, and the coming annual budget would multiply this apathy. He said the prices of basic food items went way beyond the reach of the common man before Ramadan that is a proof of the fact that either the government is helpless before the mafias or it is patronizing them.

He said a vast majority of people is unable to meet the ends due to pro-IMF policies of the rulers.

He said the country has experienced military dictatorships and so-called democratic governments for decades but the problems of the masses are still intact. Millions of people are even deprived of basic facilities like clean drinking water, healthcare, education and civic amenities, he said, adding that the rampant inflation and unemployment pushed millions of youths towards unemployment and criminal activities. The government’s faulty policies are responsible for the situation in which institutions are on the verge of collapse and economy is damaged beyond repair, he said.

The JI Ameer said conspiracies are being hatched against the country’s Islamic ideology. He asked people to play their role in defending the Islamic identity of Pakistan and join the platform of the JI for this purpose.