Senator Sirajul Haq addressed the JI central workshop at Mansoora

Lahore: Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq has said that if the centre and the Sindh government failed to resolve the impasse over the Karachi operation, the achievement made so far would also be undone.

Addressing the concluding session of the JI central workshop for party workers at Mansoora on Thursday, he said that the centre- Sindh row was not a good omen and no side should make it a point of ego. A large number of women workers participated in the workshop which was also attended by JI deputy chief Hafiz Muhammad Idrees.

Speaking on large scale human smuggling, the JI chief said this could be stopped only by overcoming the problems of poverty and unemployment. He said a large number of youth searching for jobs were falling in the hands of human smugglers. He said the responsibility of this situation lay with the rulers who had thrust upon the people an exploitative system and made it difficult for the masses to get basic necessities of life.

He said that because of the failure of the government to provide jobs, hundreds of youth in search of work and educated young men looking for decent employment abroad drowned in sea or were killed by security forces at the borders of European countries or at the Pak-Iran border. Many died in total despair while many others landed themselves in jail, he added.

The JI chief said that on one hand, the rulers were devouring the resources of the country while on the other hand, the poor were burdened under heavy taxes and were forced to commit suicide.

The government, he said, was bent upon selling precious national assets on throw away prices.

The POL prices in the world market had fallen to the record low but the government was not prepared to give any relief to the masses.

Sirajul Haq said that rulers holding the state institutions as hostages and utilizing these for personal or family interests were guilty of the worst form of corruption while trampling upon the constitution had become a habit for the rulers. A poor man committing some minor crime was handed down stringent punishment while the influential people or government functionaries would go scot free, and there was growing discontent among the general public on this gross injustice. He said that the JI was striving to end this VIP culture and all forms of protocol.

The JI chief welcomed the National Health Programme announced by the Prime Minister, but added that the practical scheme for its implementation had not been made clear so far. He doubted if this programme met the same fate as had been of the Kisan package announced by the Premier months ago.