Time to break the status quo, says Siraj

LAHORE : Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Sirajul Haq has said that dictators ruled over country for 35 years. The time has come to get rid of the status quo and start a peaceful struggle to transform Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state in true sense.

Addressing a gathering of trade leaders at Liberty Market mosque here Friday, he said that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and there was dire need to introduce Islamic system in the country. The ruling elite, he added, always tried to hinder the way of Islamic system as it would damage the interests of the feudal lords and corrupt capitalists. The status quo parties, he said, were on the same page to protect the secularism and western agenda. They, he added, burdened the country with massive debts and had been attempting to damage the Islamic identity. The government, he said, failed to control corruption and fix governance issues.

He condemned the government for massive increase in electricity tariff, saying the government ended subsidy for the electricity consumer on the directions of the IMF. He warned the government against making another increase in the prices of petroleum products. He said the prices of the food items went 100 percent to 300 percent up in three years. He said the medicine prices were raised 14 times during the tenure of this government.