- Jamaat-e-Islami to stage sit-in protest in Islamabad on July 26
- “The peace situation in the country has worsened,” says Rahman.
- He says there was no terrorism in the country before 2001.
PESHAWAR: Warning against any fresh military operation, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rahman on Sunday asked the government to refrain from pushing the country into a new blind war.
“The affairs of the country should be run according to the whims and desires of the masses, as without peace neither politics nor business will function,” the JI chief told the traders' representatives, he said. News.
Rahman said the establishment, the rulers and the bureaucracy should confess their failures and mend their ways.
“The JI has a history of fighting against foreign intervention as the country has always suffered the consequences of its love for the United States,” he added.
He said that due to the US war in Afghanistan, Pakistan's economy suffered a loss of 200 billion dollars and 100,000 people were killed during the so-called war on terror.
“The peace situation in the country has worsened and the country is going through a paradox where nobody knows who is with whom,” the JI chief said.
Flanked by the party's provincial president Prof. Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, deputy chief Dr. Ataur Rahman and representatives of traders, the JI chief said Pakistan had a strong and historic relationship with Afghanistan.
“Both countries have made great sacrifices over the past four decades,” he said, adding that the tense relationship between the two brotherly Muslim countries would only appease India, Israel and the United States.
Rahman said that before 2001 there was no terrorism in the country but a general who surrendered to the US in exchange for dollars after a single phone call pushed the country into the fire of terrorism, he said.
“General Musharraf had said that the country would receive dollars in return for the war. They received the dollars, but they gave nothing to the people,” he added.
He said the country's sensitive air bases, logistical support and intelligence network had been handed over to the United States.
Criticising the government for its military operations, he said it was important to know who set up the “factories” that produce terrorists.
“With every military operation, more terrorists are produced. Today, neither the country's borders nor its cities are safe. There is great discontent and disappointment among the masses. Thousands of disillusioned youth are leaving the country every day,” Rahman said.
The JI chief also criticised the cruel taxation in the country. He said Rs375 billion was collected in taxes from the salaried class, while the feudal class and the elite could only deposit Rs5-6 billion in taxes.
He stressed that the feudal class should be included in the tax network.
The JI emir also condemned the unbearable power cuts and inflated electricity bills. He said that Rs 28 billion had been collected from the masses in the name of capacity charges, which was the worst brutality against the people.
There were a number of independent power producers who could not produce even a single megawatt of electricity but they have collected billions of rupees from the poor people of the country, he added.
The JI chief demanded a forensic audit of the IPPs and urged the government to make public the agreements reached with them. He stressed that the agreements with the IPPs must be reviewed. He said the JI has launched the “Haq Do Awam Ko” (Give the people their rights) movement.
He said the JI would stage a sit-in in Islamabad on July 26 and all possible preparations have been made.
