Govt, Opp fight as flood washes away villages: Siraj

LAHORE:Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ameer Sirajul Haq Monday spent a busy day at flood-hit areas and met victims of Taunsa and nearby areas.

On the occasion, the JI chief urged federal and Punjab governments to halt taking political mileage against each other and instead pay immediate attention on rescuing tens of thousands of poor people who were displaced by flash floods and provide them relief.

According to a message by JI media cell from Taunsa, the JI chief appealed to the masses for donations for flood-hit people and also appealed to the armed forces to spend their maximum resources on extending relief to the poor victims.

He demanded the government ensure immediate dispatch of food and other relief items to flood victims otherwise the JI would stage sit-ins outside the Prime Minister (PM) and the Chief Minister (CM) offices at Islamabad and Lahore. Siraj lamented that while government and opposition were engaged in political wrestling, heavy flash floods washed away hundreds of villages in south Punjab and Balochistan, leaving tens of thousands of poor people homeless and starving without food and medicine in wait for the government aid.

He noted that it was not the first-time rulers left the calamity-hit masses on their own without help, adding public welfare had never been on the agenda of the mainstream political parties. He said the PM and the Punjab CM should have been showing sympathies in-person with flood victims at this time of trial instead of political wrestling against each other, while the bureaucrats responsible for relief work should be on the affected areas instead of sitting in their luxury offices.

He said PTI chairman Imran Khan has been holding public meetings completely ignoring the flood victims of the two provinces ruled by his party. Siraj is on three-day visit to south Punjab since Sunday to express solidarity with the calamity hit people and see the relief activities of JI’s sister organization Al-Khidmat Foundation. He had also visited Balochistan few days ago. He said over 2,000 workers and volunteers of JI and al-Khidmat Foundation were busy in relief activities in south Punjab.