F.P. Report
LOWER DIR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq has said that the country is on fire as terrorist acts and suicide blasts are happening daily in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan by targeting mosques, markets, public gatherings and seminaries. He urged the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to step down instead of waiting for August 14 as his government had failed to provide security to the masses.
This he claimed while addressing the first ever night public rally in the history of Dir as chief guest at Chakdara. JI provincial chapter organized the ‘Huquq e Malakand rally’ which was attended by thousands of party workers, traders and transporters from all districts of Malakand division.
The rally was also addressed by the JI provincial chief Prof Ibrahim Khan, deputy provincial chief Maulana Muhammad Ismail, MNA Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Chitrali, former parliamentarian Inayatullah Khan, former MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah, JI general secretary Abdul Wasi and party district chiefs. JI chief strongly condemned the suicide blast at the JUI-F’s workers’ convention in Bajaur and asked the federal and provincial governments to immediately step down for their failure to protect the masses. He expressed his heartfelt sympathy to the JUI-F leaders and prayed for the elevation of the martyrs’ ranks and speedy recovery of the injured.
“Our rulers are corrupt, they have created offshore companies abroad and transferred national wealth to other countries”, Siraj said, adding that the apex court and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had failed to hold the present and former ‘looters’ accountable. The JI chief said that it was only the JI that could hold the ‘thieves’ accountable as none of its leaders was involved in bad practices.
“They (rulers) have bought properties and palaces, secured the future of their princes and princesses and destroyed the children of the nation”, Siraj said, adding the present rulers had come only to squash their cases in courts. He said both Zardai and Nawaz Sharif were struggling to make their children as prime ministers.
“The same people go to assemblies because of their ‘haram’ wealth and then start looting”, he said, adding that all the institutions had failed to hold them accountable.
“JI has started a movement for mass awareness and it was the first rally in that connection”, Siraj said, adding that his party would hold such rallies in other parts of the country.
Presenting his party manifesto, the JI chief announced that VIP culture, interest-based economy will be ended, Islamic Sharia and justice system will be introduced, prayers’ leaders will be regularly paid, women and minorities’ rights will be ensured, Friday will be restored as public holiday and Urdu will be made an official language. He said the JI would provide free of cost education to all, end extra privileges of judges, generals and bureaucrats, strengthen local bodies’ institutions and would try to implement the ‘Umar Abni Khitab’ model of governance in the country if given a chance to rule.
JI chief said that the previous government did not pay any attention to the development of Malakand division, the promises to establish CPEC route, economic and industrial zones in the region were forgotten. He said the 45MW Koto Hydro Project was supposed to be completed in 2019, but the project was still in limbo. He pointed out that nine points had been identified for promoting border trade from Malakand and Chitral to Afghanistan and Tajikistan but not a single one had been built.
He said the government bought electricity for Rs 2.5 per unit and sold it to the public for Rs 50 per unit. “If the electricity produced in Malakand division is given to the people here, load shedding will end in the area”, he said, adding the Wapda employees, government officers and bureaucrats utilized free of cost electricity the price of which was taken from consumers. Siraj said the overseas sent remittances worth 31 billion dollars, but they were viewed with suspicion by authorities at airports. He said that special initiatives would be taken for facilitating the overseas when the JI came into power.
“The country is divided on the basis of Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi and Pakhtun”, Siraj said, adding that thousands of talented youths had left the country to seek jobs abroad. Sirajul Haq congratulated the organizers for arranging a massive gathering and said it would change the fate of Malakand division.
