LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) acting chief Liaqat Baloch has called for an intensive study into the stock market by a task force comprising national and international experts so as to streamline the whole business on the basis of hard facts and realism. Speaking at an Iftar dinner arranged by traders Shadbagh and Kot Khwaja Saeed, he said that the small investors had suffered huge losses because of continuous fall in the stock market. He said that the stock market was fictitious in which the big fish swallowed the small fish. He said that the rise in the stock market was because of the government patronage. The Jamaat-e-Islami acting chief said that the country’s economy was on the decline due to heavy foreign loans, curse of interest and widespread corruption. He said that corruption was prevalent in all private and governments institutions and it could be wiped out through effective accountability, which was essential for revival of the country’s economy. “If there is no accountability, the masses will be crushed under poverty, lawlessness and unemployment,” he warned. He said the grand victory of the national cricket team against India had given a ray of hope and confidence to the nation. Meanwhile, JI has termed US responsible for non-resolution of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India. A statement quoting JI Information Secretary Amirul Azeem Thursday said that Pakistan’s foreign policy should be free of any influence. He said that the US was an unreliable county that had always used Pakistan for his own objectives. He held US responsible for the non-resolution of the Kashmir and Palestine disputes. “The US is a common enemy of the Muslim world and those deeming it a friend live in a fools’ paradise,” the statement said. He said that US President Donald Trump’s threat to stop aid to Pakistan and to intensify drone attacks was a slap in the face of the rulers “who had put the country’s sovereignty at stake”. He said that it was the right time to give a befitting response to Washington but the country’s rulers did not have courage to do so. He said that Pakistan would have to abandon US slavery to protect her independence. Kashmir had been reeling under violence since the killing of popular rebel leader Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016 at the hands of Indian occupational forces. Scores of civilians have been killed in clashes between protesters and Indian security forces in the worst violence to hit the Himalayan region since 2010. Published in Daily Times, June 23rd, 2017.