General Raheel Sharif earned respect by opting retirement : Siraj ul Haq

Lahore : Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has said that the respect Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif had earned by opting to retire on schedule was far greater that he would have earned through an extension in his service, and the nation would remember his services for ever.

He was addressing the Multan district Bar and a students conference in Lahore on Thursday.

Siraj ul Haq said that the accountability of the rulers was the call of the nation. He said in the past, the rulers had always managed to escape accountability, but this was not possible now.  He said the Supreme Court knew that the eyes of the nation were on it. Therefore, every plunderer would be brought to book.  Multan district Bar chief Azimul Haq Pirzada, High Court Bar, Multan chief Jamshed Hayat and Secretary bar, Imran Khakwani, also spoke on the occasion.

Siraj ul Haq said that the Southern Punjab was suffering because of the injustice of the rulers. He said  the dictatorial attitude of the rulers and their policies based on injustice had created hatred among the people of Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber P., as also the Southern Punjab. “ We want the government to take decision in accordance with the constitution and the law as no society could progress without justice and fair play,” he added.

The JI chief counseled the nation not to run after Moghal princes or Hollywood actors and instead take the Quaid e Azam as their model so that the country could be transformed into a true Islamic welfare state. “ We want a Pakistan in which there is no VIP, and all have equal rights, ” Sirajul Haq said. He said the forces of status quo were keeping the masses deprived of the basic facilities of education, health and employment. The ruling coterie was least bothered about by the hardships of the general public and their only ambition was to amass more wealth and augment their bank accounts, he added.

The JI chief said that nature had blessed this country with unlimited resources of both men and material. Had these resources been spent on public welfare, the  plight of the masses would not have been so miserable, he added. The rulers have not only plundered the public money but also obtained huge loans from abroad and local banks heavily burdening the country and the nation and making them slaves of the IMF and World Bank.

He said the country at present was under foreign loan to the tune of 73 billion dollars. On the other hand, assets to the tune of 375 billion dollars owned by the Pakistanis were lying abroad. If the country had a true national government, not only all loans could be paid off but the masses could be provided basic facilities of education, health and besides good employment.

He said during last seventy years, the rulers had not built a single standard hospital where quality treatment could be available. As and when,  someone from the ruling junta fell ill, he would rush abroad for treatment. He said if the JI came to power, it would build good hospitals where even the rulers could get satisfactory treatment.