ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan has urged the government to prepare and present an interest-free budget for the financial year 2023-24 to provide relief to the inflation-hit masses.
Addressing at a press conference here on Friday, JI chief Sirajul Haq reiterated the call for free and transparent elections, adding that the solution to the prevailing crises lay in providing an opportunity to the masses to elect their representatives.
“Pakistan has not achieved the objective of its creation even after 75 years. We as a nation must think who is responsible for the prevailing circumstances,” he said.
While criticising the previous government led by Imran Khan and the present government led by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he said neither the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nor the PDM governments have brought any sigh of relief for the poverty-hit Pakistanis.
He said that the PDM-led government is here for over a year but despite the tall claims, the economic position of a common person has further declined as compared with the PTI tenure.
He claimed the establishment had backed the PTI to come to power in 2018, and then it supported the PDM and the PPP to form government in April. He said the ruling parties were the “clubs of feudal lords and imperialists” who, after coming into power, failed to serve the people and protect the national interest. They only focused on self-serving and looting the national resources, he said, holding them responsible for the current crises.
The JI chief said the PDM and the PPP had taken out long marches against inflation but they never talked about the issue after coming into power though the prices of basic need items went “100 times up” in one year of their rule.
He said the PTI destroyed the country, deceiving the masses in the name of change. He said only Islamic system could bring real change and the JI was the only party which was struggling for it. He said it had been proved that the PDM, the PPP, and the PTI could not bring any betterment as they all failed to deliver despite getting repeated opportunities to come to power.
Haq said the ruling elite made the country a laughing stock in the entire world. He said it was in the hands of the people now whether they agreed to keep the status quo intact or throw it out with the power of their vote.
He said the destruction of the economy was the direct result of the prevailing political crises. He said the prices of the basic food items were beyond the reach of a common man. He said the large population was living without education and health facilities, and even clean drinking was not available to over 70-80 percent public. He said the law and justice served the rich, depriving the poor. The general public, he said, was simmering with sorrow and anger, which was on the verge of erupting.
Haq said the people must be given the right to choose their representatives in a free and fair manner, and it was the only solution to fix the problems. He said now, when all political parties failed to deliver, only the JI was left as an option for the people of Pakistan. If voted to power, he said the JI could put the country on track.
He said every Pakistani loves its army but the Establishment supported political parties to come to power. He said he wanted every institution, whether it was military establishment or judiciary, must stay neutral and apolitical.
Later, the leadership of Kashmir Hurriyat Conference also held a meeting with him. They condemned the Zhob suicide attack and expressed solidarity with the JI leader.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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