LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has taken another U-turn from its pledges by announcing the privatisation of state entities; before selling out the government properties, the prime minister should listen to his old speeches he made against the privatisation policy of the former governments.

Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Senator Sirajul Haq said at a training workshop of the JI workers at Mansoora on Thursday that he would resist the move which was tantamount to depriving a large number of government employees from their jobs.

How a government can run a state of 220 million people if it is unable to manage even a convention centre? He was referring to the government plan to sell Jinnah Convention Centre, Islamabad, among other 33 properties.

Already on ventilator, he said, the ruling party was making foolish decisions with everyday passing. Had the government made recovery from those who looted the Steel Mills and PIA, there would have been no need to sell the state entities, he said. It was an irony that private transporters and airlines were making profits but the national carriers (PIA and Railways) were facing loss of billions, he said.

The JI chief criticised the so-called mainstream opposition parties, saying they never raised voice on public issues but made noise only on the matters of their own interests. The PTI and its predecessors, said Mr Haq, were the agents of the status quo and sides of the same coin.

The Imran’s party formed the government with the support of those who backed it to come to the power in past, he said, adding the country could no more afford the cosmetic politics and it must be run on true democratic principles. He said the people were desperate and wanted to get rid of the ruling elite.

The in-house changes or bringing the same old players again into the power corridors were never a solution to the problems of people rather a real change was need of the hour, he said.

Paying no heed to the problems of a common man, he said, the government first tried to curb the media freedom through unjustified restrictions and it was now trying to make a clash with the judiciary.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2020