Daily Times

Talking to the media after addressing the participants of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ijtema at Sanghota in Swat on Sunday, Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Senator Siraj ul Haq, has said that it is the constitutional responsibility of the government to establish an interest-free economy in the country.

Sirajul Haq said that in order to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, the government would have to give special attention to education, health, employment and collective justice. ”The government announcement to create ten million jobs had given a new hope to the nation” said the JI leader.

Talking on the forthcoming presidential elections, he said that the JI wants a stable democracy in the country and it also desires that the presidential elections would be held in a democratic manner.

He further said that reliable elections were a basic requirement of a democratic society. ”The 25th July elections were the elections only of the millionaires and billionaires and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to hold fair, free and transparent elections”, added the JI leader.

Siraj ul Haq said that Pakistan has lived under both, dictatorship and democracy, but none of the ruling systems has paid attention to the problems of the general public and only the interests of small elite have been given preference.

The JI leader said that new government should not frame its policies keeping in view the interest of the feudal lords and capitalists, but serious heed should also be paid to watch the interest of the poor masses and to ensure that the children of the poor could also get education and health facilities.

The JI chief further said that the biggest task before the government at present is to start accountability of the remaining 436 people named in the Panama leaks. ”All the corrupt people, howsoever powerful they were, must be brought to justice”, he added.

Talking on the ongoing situation of load shedding, Siraj ul Haq said that the issue of load shedding is getting total out of control in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He said that the issue is not the power generation but it is in the distribution and transmission of power.

Published in Daily Times, September 3^rd 2018.