LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has called upon the government to immediately grant voting right to over two million Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia.

Talking to the media at the Lahore airport on his return from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, he urged the Election Commission to make necessary arrangements for facilitating voting by the Pakistani Diaspora in the holy land.

He chided Pakistani missions abroad saying these had totally failed in solving problems of the overseas Pakistanis.

He said the Pakistanis abroad wanted to play an active role in national politics to ensure better governance in the country but they were being denied their right to vote.

Expressing deep concern over the heavy losses caused by rains and floods in different parts of the country, the JI chief said it was unfortunate that the rulers were persistently avoiding construction of new dams.

He said the JI after coming to power would build at least 100 new dams in order to overcome the water and power crisis and to solve the problems of recurring floods.

He urged the government to begin work on the Bhasha Dam on a war footing as there was national consensus on the project.

Referring to the absence of the national leadership from the country, he said it was the worst example of indifference to leave the country leaving the masses in a natural calamity, and adding that countries were not run through mobile phones or messages.

The rulers in even smallest countries of the word would not leave their country in such calamities, he added.

Mr Haq said the government had neither made any arrangements for timely warning to the people nor any concrete measures were being taken to save the lives of the people during floods. This was the height of indifference and selfishness, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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