LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has urged the international community to take notice of Indian conspiracy behind the Pulwama attack following the leaked social media conversation of an Indian anchor.

In a statement issued on Sunday, he stressed that the government shun its apologetic policy towards India and respond to India in the same coin. The Modi government, he said, staged the drama of Pulwama just to win general election.

He said New Delhi was constantly engaged in destabilising Islamabad but the rulers here never thought about it and failed to take decisive measures to challenge its designs. The government foreign policy was a failure and continuation of the past.

The JI chief criticised the government for also ignoring the masses and doing nothing for introducing reforms in key sectors. He said people were no more ready to trust in the claims of the prime minister. The PM, he said, had announced that the year 2020 would bring prosperity but the people underwent the worst time of their life due to skyrocketing inflation and unemployment. What the people should expect from a similar announcement of the prime minister about the year 2021, he questioned, adding that pinning hopes on the present setup seemed useless now.

He said the change was only possible through the enforcement of rule of law, introduction of across-the-board accountability and provision of basic facilities to the masses. But, he regretted, the PTI did nothing to bring any improvement in the sectors in half of its five-year tenure.

“The country is being run on an ad hoc basis and on the dictations of the IMF and the World Bank.”

Meanwhile, the Lahore chapter of the party staged a protest demonstration against the Punjab government’s failure to ensure cleanliness in the provincial capital. Carrying placards inscribed with their demands, they raised slogans against the rulers for not collecting waste from the city and not doing enough for the provision of potable water to the citizens.

Led by Zikrullah Mujahid and others, the demonstrators vowed to hold the second protest on Jan 21.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2021