PPP, PML-N protect each other over corruption, says Siraj

 LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan and general public had serious complaints about the rulers governance and the ISPR had also hinted towards that, yet the government continued to claim that all was well.

Addressing the JI political committee meeting at Mansoora on Monday, he said the best way to remove PPP’s complaints against NAB would be to allow NAB to initiate proceedings against the federal and provincial governments and added that the cleansing should begin from Islamabad.

However, he said, the PPP and the PML-N that had been ruling the country for the last four decades, had started the politics of 1990s once again and were trading allegations against each other. He said the masses however realised that this was a mock fight only to deceive the people. He said that both the parties did not want each other’s accountability and were protecting each others’ corruption. But as and when any institution tried to bring them to accountability, they started crying of political victimisation. He said there were corruption cases against hundreds of PPP and PML-N leaders. A thief would not chop off the hand of the other thief and added that accountability could be done only by those whose hands were clean.

Sirajul Haq announced that the heavy loans drawn from the IMF and the World Bank would be paid off not out of the public exchequer but from the foreign accounts of those who had been ruling the country in the past. The rulers, he said, had transferred trillions to their bank accounts abroad and they were not even ready to bring their wealth back to the country’s banks.

This showed that they feared to be taken to task after they would become out of power. These people had least desire to improve the economy of the country, he added.

The JI chief slated the levy of new taxes to the tune of Rs40 billion and said this was a huge burden on the poor. He said that corruption had become so rampant that Rs100 million or Rs200 million embezzlement was taken as an ordinary matter. On the other hand, he said, in the first place, the people would not get any bank loan, and if succeeded in getting a loan of Rs300,000 or Rs400,000 only, the banks would make his life hell and he won’t be let off even after paying interest many times more than the actual loan. He said the man in the street had been facing this situation for the last several decades and added that the things would not improve until the present oppressive system was abolished. He urged the masses to support the JI in this struggle.

Workshop: Jamaat-e-Islami Naib Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Idrees said that the JI had no enmity towards any political or religious party and it differed with them on principles.

Addressing a monthly workshop for party workers at Mansoora on Monday, he said the JI had played the role of “trouble-shooter” on numerous occasions when the differences between parties reached the climax and it became hard to bring them to the negotiation table. He said the JI did not want any word of praise for this role as it was simply well-wisher of all.

Hafiz Muhammad Idrees said the seminaries were imparting both religious and worldly education and were doing this service free-of-cost. He said the campaign against the seminaries was dangerous. He said if the allegations of terrorism were supported by proof, nobody would have any objection to it.