RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Holding the ruling elite responsible for the miseries of the masses, Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Sirajul Haq has appealed the people to take a firm stand against the status quo forces to put the country on track.

Addressing a workers convention here on Saturday, he said religious scholars, students, laborers and small farmer must play their role to transform the country into an Islamic welfare state dreamt by country’s founding father.

He said the country had experienced military dictatorship and so-called democratic regimes for decades but the problems of the masses were still intact. Millions of people were even deprived of the basic facilities like clean drinking water in the KP, he said, adding the inflation and unemployment were rampant and millions of KP youth were roaming jobless due to flawed policies of the government. He said institutions were on the verge of collapse and economy was deteriorating with every day passing, he said.

The JI chief said the PTI also proved itself agents of the status quo, continuing the policies of the predecessors and burdening the country with billions of dollars foreign debt. He said the mini budget before the holy month of Ramazan and annual budget was cruel act of the government. He said the prices of basic food items went more up before Ramazan which was proof of the fact that either the government was helpless before the mafias or it was patronizing them.

He said a vast majority of the public was unable to meet the ends due to pro-IMF policies of the rulers. Provision of quick justice to poor and concept of supremacy of law became dreams in the society, he added.

The JI chief said the conspiracies were being hatched against the country’s Islamic ideology, asking the people play their role to defend the Islamic identity of Pakistan and join the platform of the JI for this purpose.