PTI, PDM equally responsible for economic crisis: Siraj

RAWALPINDI/KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Sirajul Haq on Sunday said that parties in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were equally responsible for plunging the country into an economic crisis and adding to miseries of the masses.

“The corruption stories of PDM parties and PTI government having vested interests are identical and we feel no difference in their deeds,” Sirajul Haq said while addressing the JI activists and supporters coming from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He pointed out that a few families and martial laws were responsible for miseries of masses, saying that the time has come to get rid of the status quo and its protectors like PDM and PTI and move towards an Islamic welfare state.

Sirajul Haq said the PDM parties and PTI were fighting each other for power. Other JI leaders including Naib Ameers Liaquat Baloch and Mian Muhammad Aslam, Secretary General Amirul Azeem, Syed Arif Shirazi, Nasrullah Randhawa, Shamsur Rehman Swati and others also addressed the public meeting at Liaquat Bagh.

The organisers of the event made exceptional arrangements to observe COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), while keeping four feet distance in chairs and providing masks and sanitizers to participants.

The JI supporters, who also include women, carrying party’s flags chanted slogans while denouncing diplomatic and economic policies of the incumbent government.

Sirajul Haq observed that the PTI government had made the life of common man miserable by increasing tariff of utility bills and with price hike of essential commodities. He also advised the NCOC head Asad Umar that instead of locking down the country, the government should facilitate the masses in remaining safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that his party wanted uniform education system, justice in all fields and judicial system based on Islamic injunctions.

Sirajul Haq, on the occasion, maintained that the Pakistani nation and Kashmiris themselves would not allow restoration of any relations with India unless the core Kashmir issue was settled.

Meanwhile, as part of its ongoing campaign for the rights of Karachi, the JI Karachi chapter on Sunday organised a huge rally on Shahrah-e-Faisal, demanding for a strengthened local government system, a ‘correct’ population census, and resolution of basic civic issues being faced by the people of Karachi.

Thousands of participants, holding banners and placards, took part in a ‘Haq Do Karachi Ko’ rally that started from Quaidabad and ended at the Governor’s House.

“Give back our city to us”, “build Karachi’s roads”, “We are 30 million”, “No to quota system”, “we want empowered local government system”, “Give buses to Karachi”, “Do a forensic audit of K-Electric” were the major demands written on the placards the rally participants were holding.

Accusing the Centre and the Sindh government of corruption and bad governance, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said unemployment and street crimes were on the rise in the metropolitan city due to economic crisis. He said that PPP has been occupying Sindh for the last 12 years. “They have not given their due to the people of Sindh,” he said.

Naeemur Rehman said that the PPP has been creating tension and cultivating prejudices among Muhajirs and Sindhis only on linguistic basis. He said Karachi is the city of all, including Muhajirs, Sindhis, Punjabis and Pashtuns who left everything and settled in the city.

Later, at the Governor House, a video message by Sirajul Haq was played. He said that the citizens participating in this march have been struggling for their own future, for their offspring, for a beautiful Karachi and the country as well.

“Karachi is our economic jugular vein, Karachi is our ideological jugular vein, the residents of this city had offered huge sacrifices for Pakistan,” he said. The JI chief said that earlier some areas of the city were considered as poor localities like Malir, Landhi and Korangi but now even posh areas are presenting the same look. “The city is facing shortage of potable water while there is not proper system to drain out the sewerage water,” he said.