HYDERABAD: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) secretary general Liaquat Baloch has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government remains directionless and visionless.

Speaking to media at the local press club on Friday, he said that another mini-budget was thrust on people who were already groaning under price hike.

He said the mini-budget, which was also replete with taxes, would increase inflation.

He said the government on the one hand claimed that it would provide relief to people, but on the other higher taxes were introduced in the budget.

He said the shortage of gas supply was the height of poor administration of the present government while delay in import of liquefied natural gas would affect domestic and industrial consumers.

He said the country could not progress with a “borrowed” economy.

Prime Minister Imran Khan raised a slogan against corruption, but except for Nawaz Sharif, others, whose names appea­r­ed in Panama­gate too, were not taken to court, he said.

He said the names of those who got their loans waived off, looted national wealth and transferred money to offshore banks were available, but since the name of Aleema Khanum surfaced, the issue had been put in cold storage.

He said that accountability was not on the agenda of the government and thus it was being made controversial. He did not rule out collusion among the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), “corrupt mafia” and state institutions.

He termed the Sahiwal tragedy the height of barbarism on the part of law enforcement agencies.

He said it was not only Sahiwal, but such incidents were also reported in other parts of the country, adding that missing persons cases were being reported in Balochis­tan and Khyber Pakhtun­khwa in a large number, but no measures for their recovery were being taken.

He said people had lost trust in joint interrogation teams (JITs), adding that the PM hinted at formation of a judicial commission on the tragedy and the JI had demanded the same.

NAP reform

He paid tributes to the sacrifices of the armed forces for implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

He, however, said the indiscriminate use of powers was affecting credibility of institutions and called for reviewing NAP for which national leadership had shown historic consensus. He said NAP should be reviewed and defects in it, if any, should be done away with.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2019