Government wants to sell leading state organizations on throw away prices :Sirajul Haq

Lahore: Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Sirajul Haq, has said that the government wanted to sell leading state organizations on throw away prices in the name of privatization but the JI would not allow that.

Addressing the central working committee of the National Labour Federation (NLF) on Sunday, he announced that the JI would launch a campaign against the privatization next in February with the cooperation f the industrial workers and labourers.

Stating that the PML(N) government’s sole achievement so far had been the sale of major state organizations, the JI chief said that if the government could not run state institutions including the Railways, it should admit its failure and hand these over to the JI. He assured the nation that the JI would run these institutions in an efficient manner and put the country on the path of progress and prosperity.

The JI chief said that every citizen was upset today due to the prevailing class- based exploitative system. An ordinary citizen, he said, had to pay as many as thirty four direct and indirect taxes and added that only a few among the affluent people were tax=payers while the common citizen had to pay the indirect taxes. He said that the many people did not pay taxes only because of the corruption of the rulers.

Sirajul Haq said that certain interested quarters in the ranks of the government first rendered the state institutions as failures and then purchased these on extremely low prices thus depriving the state of these.  He however said that the JI would not allow privatization of state institutions at any cost. Instead, he said, the JI would make the rulers to account for the billions of rupees collected in the name of Workers Welfare Fund and recover every penny from those found responsible of the loot.

He said that the government had been pursuing anti –worker policies as had made the lives of the labourers a hell. He advised the rulers to give the workers their lawful rights before they were made to do that.

Sirajul Haq said that the class system prevailing in the world based on exploitation and injustice was in conflict with the golden Islamic teachings brought by the Noble Prophet (SAW). The Holy Prophet was the protector of the common people, workers and the oppressed classes, and one of his important  teachings was that the remuneration of a worker should be paid to him before his sweat dried out.

The JI chief said that the privatization of state institutions would lead to destruction. Therefore, he said, instead of adopting that path, the government should give due attention to the rehabilitation of these institutions. He said that none of the governments during the last 68 years had fully implemented the labour policy and millions of labourers remained unregistered and there was nobody to look after their interests.

Meanwhile,  Sirajul Haq has impressed upon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not be a silent spectator of India’s brutalities on the Kashmiris but adopt a solid and comprehensive policy for the liberation of Kashmir.

Speaking at a memorial reference held at Islamabad for veteran Kashmiri scholar and freedom fighter Prof. Aleefud Din Turabi, he demanded that all sorts of relations with India be suspended till the liberation of Kashmir and added that working relations between Pakistan and India could not be established until Kashmir became free from India’s hold. He said that the 180 million Pakistanis would stand shoulder to shoulder with their Kashmir brethren till they achieved their goal.

Sirajul Haq said that India could not keep the Kashmir under slaves even if it doubled its army in the valley and intensified its atrocities on the Kashmiris struggling for freedom. He said the Kashmiris had proved to the world that they would not accept any solution of the Kashmir issue other than liberation.

He said the very idea of trade with India and the import of onions, and potatoes from there and the exchange of artistes was shameful in view of the state terrorism unleashed by the India occupation forces in Held Kashmir, and was tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the Kashmiris rendering huge sacrifices for their liberation that was the completion of the Pakistan movement.

The JI chief also called upon the world community to discharge its moral duty by supporting the Kashmiris just cause for the right to self determination in accordance with the UN resolutions.

Azad Kashmir President Sardar Muhammad Yaqub, in his address on the occasion, paid rich tributes Prof. Aleefud Din Turabi for his services for the Kashmir cause. He said that all the political parties of Azad Kashmir were agreed on the one point agenda of the Kashmir Liberation movement. Chief of the JI, Azad Kashmir, Abdur Rashid Turabi, in his address, said that the Prof. Aleefud Din Turabi’s commitment for the Kashmir cause had always remained above board.

Other Kashmiri leaders including Ghulam Nabi Nausheri, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Javed Turabi ,Prof, Yaub Shaiq and Commander (rtd) Aziz also spoke on the occasion.