Siraj asks politicians to sit for a new ‘social contract’

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has said that leadership of both the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) were eager to win support of the international establishment and America.

He was addressing a social media activists’ convention organized by the JI Youth wing at a local hotel in Timergara here on Tuesday as chief guest. The convention was also addressed by JI district chief Izazul Mulk Afkari, former MNA Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, former MPA Saeed Gul, Shad Nawaz Khan, JI Youth wing district president Ateequr Rehman and others.

The JI chief said the politics of both the PDM and PTI revolved around the appointment of the chief of army staff (COAS) in the country and they had nothing to do with the masses and their miseries. The JI chief declared that a new social contract between the leadership of political parties was the need of the hour.

He said the political parties should make an agreement for the civil supremacy, electoral reforms and mechanism for the neutralization of the establishment.

Siraj said that there had been no difference in the policies of the PDM and PTI regarding national economy, international relations and social reforms. The JI chief said that both the parties had ruined the economy of the country. “Both they want to become American slaves,” he alleged, adding that Washington was their ‘kaaba’. They said the profitable institutions like railways, Wapda, PIA and PTCL were destroyed by the successive governments.

Talking about the interest-free economy in Pakistan, he said that it was a good omen that the federal government had withdrawn its appeal against the Federal Shariat Court. He said that it was ironic that there was still a 15 percent markup ratio in all banks of the country. He demanded the government to take practical steps for abolishing interest on the internal loans in the country during the next five years and then on the foreign loans. He said that a meeting of religious scholars from different sects in that regard would be held at Karachi on Nov, 30 under the supervision of prominent scholar Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani.

Mr Haq alleged the PDM and the PTI had come into power with the support of the establishment and without its support both they were nothing. Commenting on the PTI chief Imran Khan’s recent stand regarding relations with the USA, the JI chief said that it was not beyond understanding. He said that it was a continuation of ‘his’ U-Turns. He said that 6 per cent of the total Rs 299 billion GDP had been eaten by the elite class while Rs 5000 billion were plundered annually in the country.

Regarding the media he said that it was not independent in Pakistan and was being controlled by the government.

He said the social media platform had remained the only option with the youth for their freedom of expression. He asked the participants to utilize the social media for spreading the universal message of Islam and ideology of Pakistan to everyone. He said the west had inflicted its culture through social media on our youth and it had entered now in their bedrooms.