PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has expressed his reservations about allocation of Rs1,370 billion for defence in the new federal budget compared to Rs950 billion allocated to development.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Institute of Regional Studies in Peshawar, he also said that the 2 per cent of Pakistani feudals were siphoning off resources of the 98 per cent peasants.

“Since the creation of Pakistan, a particular class is in control of the country,” he said. “Its agents are active in every field of life and they are promoting the culture of institutionalised corruption and making life tough for the common man,” he added.

The current budget, he said, was aimed at pleasing the IMF and World Bank instead of progress of the country and providing relief to the people.

“The government has allocated Rs3,400 billion to pay interest on loans. Interest on loans is the biggest obstacle to development of the country. It is important that we end the interest-based economy,” he said.

The JI chief said that only 3 per cent of the budget went to education whereas in Bangladesh 30 per cent of annual budget was allocated to health and education.

He said that 25 million of the country’s youth were unemployed and the only way to defuse this ticking bomb was to make available job opportunities and interest-free loans for them.

Sirajul Haq said that a handful of traders and businessmen had captured the resources of small businesses and retailers. There is no shortage of resources and potential in Pakistan, he said and added that the country only needed competent and honest leadership.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2021