GUJRAT: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Senator Sirjul Haq has once again asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down till the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for a transparent inquiry into the Panama corruption scandal as according to him corruption and Pakistan cannot coexist.

He was speaking to a big public meeting at the Jail Chowk here on Sunday evening. JI Punjab Emir Mian Maqsood, Amirul Azeem and Gujrat emir Dr Tariq Saleem were among those present.

The JI chief said corruption of the ruling elite had actually been the real cause if all the ills the nation had been facing for long so without getting rid of this menace, Pakistan could not achieve the target of economic growth. And that’s why his party had been striving for a corruption-free Pakistan as it was the then JI chief, the late Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who had launched the movement against corruption back in 1996.

He sought the support of the masses in his struggle to rout the status quo which, according to him, had been another major cause of problems of Pakistan.

Mr. Haq also demanded the accountability of those who plundered in the regimes of Pervez Musharraf, the PPP as well as the PML-N and said he had always presented himself for the accountability first.

He said the real characters of Dawnleaks were still to be exposed as three people had been made scapegoat.

He said he had approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the involvement of the ruling Sharif family in the Panama scandal and if the JIT could not decide the issue, the masses would decide it on the streets.

He said the PML-N government had completed four years of its rule and could not eliminate unemployment, loadshedding, poverty and lawlessness in the country whereas the country’s internal and external loans had increased by manifold which proved that the Nawaz government had failed in almost all the fields and the people must vote for an eligible and honest leadership in the next general election. Only the JI could ensure free education and health facility as well as houses for the homeless people across the country.

He also criticised the Punjab government for not allowing his party’s Gujrat chapter to hold a public meeting at the Zahoor Elahi Stadium and said the doors of rulers were open for the Indian businessmen and Narendra Modi instead of the people of Pakistan which was quite shameful.

In Lahore, the Jamaat-i-Islami has called upon the government to take necessary measures during Ramazan for a 30 per cent cut in the prices of food items and their smooth supply to facilitate the fasting citizens. It has suggested relief for the workers in their duty hours during the sacred month.

General Secretary Liaquat Baloch, while suggesting the relief package, also called for a code of conduct for the federal and provincial governments and all departments concerned.

He suggested opening of two utility stores in each union council and Rs7 billion as subsidy on the items sold there during the month.

Besides, he said, the prices of POL and gas should not be raised during the month. He stressed that TV channels and the FM Radios be directed to allocate maximum time for religious programmes.

He suggested that the small vendors selling dates, eatables, vegetables, and fruit should not be penalized and their stocks be not confiscated, and instead they be given a warning for small lapses.

The JI leader also called for necessary arrangements and scientific devices for the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee so that the month of Ramazan started on the same day and Eidul Fitr held on the same day all over the country.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2017