PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami has criticised the government for its failure to materialise the commitments made with the people of tribal districts.

Addressing a convention of the tribal workers of the party here, JI chief Sirajul Haq said that Jamaat would convene a multiparty conference in the last week of March to devise an effective strategy for raising voice for the rights of tribal people.

He said that his party would bring all political parties of the province on one platform to struggle for the rights of tribal people. He said that government had announced a special package of Rs1,000 billion for the tribal areas and three per cent share in the NFC award for resolving the issue of unemployment in the area but the promises were yet to be implemented.

The JI chief said there was not a single university in the tribal districts and patients had to be brought to Peshawar for medical care. He said that tribal people wanted basic facilities of education, health and employment.

Siraj announces to convene multiparty conference this month

Mr Siraj said that all the political parties had endorsed the National Action Plan against terrorism but the previous and present governments did not implement it fully. He said mosques and seminaries were closed and religious scholars were being defamed.

He said that it was the agenda of the enemies because mosques and madressahs were only imparting education of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah. He said that in India-held Kashmir, a ban was imposed on the Islamic movement although it was working only in the fields of education, health and social welfare.

He said that Senate had called upon the government to raise its voice against the action against JI in India-held Kashmir at international level but there had been no response from the government.

Speaking on the occasion, JI provincial chief Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan urged the government to adjust the personnel of Khasadar Force instead of replacing the force with police. He stressed the need for immediate release of the promised funds to start development work in the tribal districts.

He said that at a time when the entire world was using modern technology, the people of tribal districts were crying for 3-G and 4-G and internet services. He said that government was providing billions of rupees for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project but it was unwilling to release funds to the neglected tribal areas.

Senator Mushtaq urged the government to provide jobs to the tribal youth, give three percent share in NFC award to tribal districts and establish professional educational institutions including medical and engineering universities in the area.

The JI leader said that PTI leadership had time and again promised to bring change in fate of people but it failed to keep its words. He said that JI could use the option of observing sit-in outside Prime Minister House in case issues of the people were not resolved.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan always promised to prefer suicide instead of seeking foreign loans but he forgot all of his announcements when came into powers. “The government has failed to control devaluation of currency and is taking Rs15 billion on daily basis which has led to record increase in price of petroleum products, medicines, natural gas and power,” he added.

Other JI leaders including its Fata chief Haji Sardar Khan, general secretary Mohammad Rafiq Afridi, Haroonur Rashid, Saeed Khan, Dr Munsif Khan, Hikmat Khan Hikmatyar and Dr Samiullah Jan also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2019