LAHORE: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) launched its protest movement against spiralling inflation, poverty and unemployment on Sunday.
Speaking at a labourer convention, party ameer Sirajul Haq lamented that the world was celebrating the New Year but Pakistanis were suffering from hunger and poverty, standing in queues for a bag of flour, and youths were searching for jobs or visas to go abroad as labourers.
He said at the one hand, the so-called big political leaders, judges, generals, bureaucrats and capitalists were minting money, and on the other hand, people were running from pillar to post for fulfilling their basic needs. He said the entire country, except for the ruling elite, was suffering from depression due to poverty and inflation. People hardly smile; children were out of school and people were out of jobs, he regretted adding that cities had become heaps of garbage. People had been deprived of medicines, clean water and cooking oil, the JI ameer said. Yet, he added, sacrifices were always demanded from people, while the ruling elite and bureaucrats were never subjected to any sacrifice, and they continue to enjoy luxurious lives, privileges and protocols. He said the central and provincial governments were in place only due to the establishment’s backing and those would fall if the support was withdrawn.
He said if the ill-gotten wealth of a few so-called big leaders was deposited to the national exchequer, country’s foreign debt would be paid off. The PDM, People's Party and PTI troika together had turned resource-rich Pakistan into a graveyard. The rulers had paralysed the country economically, politically and socially. The rulers were loyal to colonial powers. If they make a statement against Washington due to political expediencies, the next moment they go to the American embassy to beg for forgiveness.
Today, the country's nuclear assets are being targeted by colonial powers through economic bankruptcy. Rulers had become beggars globally, and they were embarrassing overseas Pakistanis everywhere. Corruption and incompetence of the rulers was the cause of debasement of green passport; they had sunk the country's currency deep down, Sirajul Haq said. Today the treasury was empty, dollar was being sold in black market, thousands of containers were stuck at the ports due to non-opening of LCs; banks were not giving dollars to people to pay for imported goods. Food prices were skyrocketing, flour had gone up to Rs 160 per kg. Despite that, he said, rulers did not care about the situation, and the PDM and the PTI were engaged in political brawl to win coming elections. Foreign head of the governments had stopped listening to the phone call of Pakistani people because of fear of demanding money.
Siraj said rulers must tell the nation where all the previous foreign loans have been spent. He said, actually all rulers had committed massive corruption by taking foreign loans for their own luxuries, made wealth, built properties and offshore companies, brutally looted the public resources, and even the flood relief was misappropriated, he regretted.
Siraj appealed to people to join the JI protest movement against inflation, and rise up for their rights. He said the key to development, prosperity and peace in the country lied in enforcing the Islamic system and only Jamaat-e-Islami could establish the Islamic system based on real accountability, justice and fairness. He said if the JI government was formed, it would end the interest-based economy, ensure employment by reviving industry, agriculture and exports, make barren lands productive, spend the resources on building human resource by promoting education, health and business sectors, end VVIP and protocol culture, turn Pakistan clean green, corruption-free and prosperous.
JI naib ameer Liaquat Baloch, Ziauddin Ansari, Khalid Ahmed Butt, Ahmed Salman Baloch, Usman Butt and others also spoke.
