LOWER DIR: Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan here on Sunday warned the government of march on Islamabad if any change in the blasphemy law and national policy on Palestine was made.

Addressing a workers convention in Talash here, he said his party would never allow the government to cross the red lines of amending blasphemy laws and recognising Israel.

Mr Ahmad said that mafias surrounded the government that had inflicted billions of rupees losses on the nation.

About the police action against non-custom paid (NCP) and reassembled vehicles in Malakand division, he announced to start protest rallies in parts of Malakand against the decision from Wednesday. He said around 84,000 labourers belonging to Lower Dir alone had returned from the Gulf states during the current year due to joblessness amid Covid-19 pandemic. He said the NCP reassembled vehicles had been bought by the people for earning livelihood, and not for luxury. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should immediately halt action against the NCP vehicles in all districts of Malakand region.

About the government performance, the JI provincial chief claimed that $23.6 billion had been added to the country’s foreign loans during the last two and a half years. “About three million people have gone beneath the poverty line during this government,” he said, adding the country had witnessed a record inflation, unemployment and corruption.

He said that all major political parties, including PML-N, PPP, PTI and PML-Q, had similar policies. “They are following the West and America and cannot bring any legislative change without their consent,” he alleged and claimed that it was the JI only that could bring a real change and make the corrupt accountable.

Mr Ahmad also criticised the government for torturing the protesting contract teachers from Punjab at Bani Gala the other day. He said the government had no control over mafias of cement, oil, sugar and flour.

The convention was also addressed by JI district chief Izazul Mulk, tehsil chief Maulana Javed Iqbal and youth district president Farooq Hameedullah. On this occasion, PTI youth activists Samiullah, Sajjad Khan and Suliman Khan from Matta Talash and ANP worker Hammad Khan announced to quit their parties and join JI.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2020