Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, Syed Munawwar Hasan, has said that the federal budget had not provided any relief to the masses but had substantially added to the perks and privileges of the parliamentarians and the budget of the Presidency.
Talking to different delegations at Mansoora on Sunday, he said that during the four years of the Zardari-Gilani government, the poverty rate had risen to 45 percent, half of the country's population was living below the poverty line while the luxuries of the rulers were continuing.
He said, the budget gave no plan to overcome the energy crisis, which was the main problem of the country. He said that the people were on roads in protest against power cuts while the federal and the Punjab governments were putting the blame on each other.
He said the so-called war on terror had cost the country around 90 billion dollars but the US had not paid one tenth of this amount. The rulers of this poor country burdened under heavy debt were wasting public money on foreign tours and luxuries.
Syed Munawar Hasan said that over sixty million people in the country were unemployed and the government had announced provision of jobs to one lakh people, which too appeared to be difficult. The government was printing currency notes to meet its ever increasing expenditure, which was adding to inflation, and causing price spiral. The government loans had crossed over 12 trillion rupees.
The JI Ameer also slated the drone attacks in South Waziristan and the killing of over dozen people in these attacks.
The JI Secretary General, Liaquat Baloch, in his comments, said that the 20 percent raise in salaries and pension for government employees was inadequate because of increase in prices. He said the government had no economic agenda and because of its wrong industrial policy, the country's economy was going down and the industrialists were transferring their capital to other countries.