PTI forced 50-60% people under poverty line: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq said the blind implementation of IMF’s policies by the PTI government has, in fact, landed the country in the worst economic crisis in its history, forcing 50 to 60 percent of the total population to live under the poverty line.

While addressing a meeting with the visiting-party delegations at Mansoora on Tuesday, Sirajul Haq though the Covid-19 has already hurt the economy but it is evident that Imran Khan’s government in fact brought the high inflation in the country along with unemployment and corruption. He said rise in the utility prices caused high labour cost, bringing a number of industries at the verge of closure, forcing educated youth to leave the country, while the remaining lot suffered from depression and desperation. He warned that if the IMF’s policies would be adopted blindly, then Pakistan might go bankrupt.

The JI chief said the PTI government has not only been following the previous governments’ policies but also implementing them accordingly, as it has increased non-development expenditures. He said the nation experienced the biggest fraud ever in the name of change, accountability and making the country ‘State of Madinah’. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan did nothing to stop corruption, bad governance and across the board accountability. He said the rich were getting richer even in the Covid-19 crisis, while the poor were starving for meal. Siraj lamented that the situation had become so confused that the people were no longer ready to trust the present set-up any more and have lost confidence in the democratic system.

Sirajul Haq appealed to the masses to follow the Covid-19 SOPs, and requested to pray and seek compassion from Almighty Allah.