Amends in transgender rights, act; JI plans march on Islamabad

F.P. Report
TIMERGARA: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief has asked all the major parties and their leadership to support the JI’s senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) act, 2022 in order to make it acceptable to the common citizens. He was addressing a ‘khatam e Nabowat conference’ at the Dir stadium in Upper Dir as chief guest here on Sunday. More than 10,000 of the JI workers and locals attended the conference which was also addressed by former senator Prof Ibrahim, former MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah, MPA Inayatullah and JI district chief Hanifullah.
The JI chief announced to march on Islamabad along with thousands of party workers if the government failed to include the JI’s senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan amendments to the Transgender Persons Bill and accept the FSC decision regarding the abolishment of interest-based economy in the country. He said that the lawmakers of these major parties including Rubina Khalid, Sameena Saeed, Rubina Irfan, Karim Khwaja and the Late Kulsoom Pervin had introduced the bill in the national assembly.
He said the JI was not opposing the rights of transgender persons as they needed special rights but in the garb of their rights the most controversial bill had been passed from the parliament. He said the JI’s senator had pushed for the inclusion of some acceptable amendments which should be included in it. He said the JI fought a case for 19 years in the court against the interest-based economy in the country. He said that dealing in interest on the loans was like a war with the Allah-Almighty. The JI alleged the present ruling parties had challenged the Federal Shariat Court verdict on the interest based economy in the Supreme Court that showed their secular minds.
He said the Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif was begging from the American, French and Russian presidents for help but he had forgotten the Creature of this universe. He said the rulers should seek pardon from Allah and pray for help. He said the JI was not fighting against a specific political party but it was fighting against the unjust system in the country. He demanded of the federal government to accept the Federal Shariat Court decision against the interest on the loans and take back its petition filed against it. He said that Maulana Fazl ur Rehman was leading the PDM parties and the JI hoped that he would play his active role in abolishing all un-Islamic acts in the country.
The JI chief said that the PDM government like the PTI previous government was obeying blindly the dictation of the IMF and World Bank. He said the rulers had pushed the country toward economical destruction and the poor people found it hard to meet their both ends.
He said that a Pakistan doctor, Dr Aafia Siddiqui had been in the USA prison for years but the rulers did nothing for his release. He said that Aafia’s mother had prayed for the release but neither Imran Khan nor Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto dared to ask for his release. The JI lamented the prices of electricity, petrol and gas and said the government had failed to control the price hike and inflation.
Siraj said the PTI had been in power in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for nine years and in Punjab for four years but it failed to end corruption and provide justice to people like that in the ‘Medina State’. He said that all the three major parties; PTI, PML-N and PPP wanted to get the support of the establishment and had been under its umbrella for years. He said that they were fighting for a milk feeder and had nothing to do with the people of Pakistan. He said that it was the JI that always challenged the un-Islamic practices in the country. The JI chief lauded the role of Dir residents and said they would back the JI’s struggle for the peaceful enforcement of sharia law in the country. He asked the workers to be ready for his call if the government did not accept the Federal Shariat Court verdict against the ‘Riba’ in the country.