PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should focus on rehabilitation of the earthquake-affected people instead of reviving cinemas in the province.

Addressing a students’ convention here at the party secretariat on Wednesday, he asked the provincial government to pay attention to the disaster-affected people in Malakand division instead of wasting energy on the revival of cinema houses.

“The government should rebuild the damaged houses and mosques in the disaster-hit areas,” he said. JI is also a coalition partner of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government in the province.

He said that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and the government should promulgate Islamic system in the country. He said that Pakistan was economically destabilised and corrupt elements were trying to sell national assets like PIA, Railways and Pakistan Steal Mills at throw away prices. He said that these lucrative institutions were going into losses due to the large-scale corruption and inefficiency.

Mr Haq said that JI had launched “Prosperous and Islamic Pakistan” programme, and education up to secondary level would be made free of cost if his party came into power. He said that JI would make it compulsory for parents to send their children to schools.

The JI chief said that his party would introduce uniform curricula for seminaries and schools across the country, and engineers, doctors and ulema would get equal salaries. He said that money being spent on protocol and other unproductive activities would be spent on education. He vowed that his party would launch a massive campaign against corruption.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016