KARACHI: Govt leading country to ’71 scenario, says JI
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 17: Naib Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami Prof Ghafoor Ahmad on Thursday accused the government of pushing the country towards 1971 scenario by denying people their economic, political and fundamental rights.
He also asked Gen Pervez Musharraf to step down from both the offices, the army chief and presidency, and stressing that only free, fair, and transparent elections under a neutral interim set up and an independent election commission was the way to drag the country out of the present crisis and to restore supremacy of the parliament and the Constitution.
He said this while addressing a news conference where he released the JI’s ‘whitepaper’ on the government’s alleged failure in controlling law and order, price spiral, unemployment, etc.
According to him, when elected governments commit mistakes, parliament is dissolved but when military rulers commit mistakes the country is fragmented. He warned people that the present rulers were pushing the country towards that end.
He also accused the government of miserably failing in maintaining law and order, and of patronising extortionists and terrorists, hence creating a state within the state.
He pointed out that wayside robberies had increased manifold but the security agencies had failed in apprehending the culprits.
Prof Ghafoor alleged that during the publication of this whitepaper, many of the JI workers engaged in this work had been arrested. “If this whitepaper is a conspiracy against the government, then the State Bank governor should be apprehended because in her reports, there are references that prove that the government’s claims of economic progress are not correct and that prices have a telling effect.”
In the whitepaper, the JI claimed that Karachi has been witnessing murderous waves over the past two decades (1985 –2006), because of which the 12.5 million population of this city had been pushed into severe mental, physical, psychological, financial and social torture.
Although, it is agreed that prior to 1985-86, there was unemployment and difficulty in getting suitable jobs, besides non-availability of basic rights. But in order to resolve these basic issues, the kinds of slogans coined and raised and the path adopted to resolve them has, in fact, highly aggravated these problems. Simultaneously, this mega city witnessed “gifts of dead bodies packed in gunny bags”, lawlessness, violence, loot, dacoity, hatred, as well as a variety of colourful banners highlighting language, colour and creed divide that were hanged in localities, habitats and homes.
Due to this, on the one hand, the city experienced bloodshed and, on the other, the turbans of honour kept falling from the heads of the honourables after entangling in these thorns. And to add to the woes, the tragic orgy of killing of more than 22,000 people has forced dwellers into severe psychological, emotional, political, financial and civil tragedy in such a manner that their effects shall persist in the future generations.
The people of this metropolis are unfortunate that during these traumatic years, those responsible for the perpetual lawlessness, killings, violence and plunder had the support of the ruling elite and the governments in power.
During these years the governments, either apparently democratic or under the army rule, knowing that the city had become hostage, provided patronage to hijackers, the white paper claims.
“Sometimes, deals are struck for the procurement of loyalties of legislators by doling millions of rupees to ‘the expatriate'.
Sometimes, by getting state protection under governmental umbrella so as to obtain the political support of these perpetuators, the traders, industrialists and shopkeepers of the city were forced into paying 'bhatta' (extortion money) without let or hindrance. Sometimes, licence to kill opponents is granted to them and the killers.. Sometimes, freedom is granted to snatch cellphones.”
During 2005, 676 people were killed in Karachi alone, whereas 748 acts of attempted murder were made. Information gathered from police sources and newspaper reviews suggest that during the 2005, 37 political leaders and workers were killed.
There are 3,823 complaints of dacoities and robberies, registered with the police. In these around 4,000 incidents ornaments, merchandise and cash worth billions of rupees had been looted, according to the whitepaper.
