LAHORE: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Tuesday announced launching a country-wide protest movement to press the government for taking back the mini-budget it recently bulldozed through the National Assembly.

“We will hold 100 sit-ins in all the major cities before staging the final sit-in in Islamabad,” announced the JI Emir Sirajul at a press conference here at Mansoora on Tuesday.

The schedule of the movement would be announced within three days, he said, calling for removal of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor and elimination of interest-based economy in the country.

He also demanded the government should reduce the basic food prices by 50 per cent or get ready to face the people’s wrath in Islamabad.

The JI sit-in in the federal capital, he said, would prove the (proverbial) last nail in the PTI’s coffin. Also holding the PML-N and the PPP equally responsible for what he called destruction of the country’s economy economy and state institutions, Mr Haq said the powerful establishment backed the three parties to form governments.

The PTI, he said, committed blunders in its three and a half years rule and proved itself “the most incapable” government in the history of Pakistan.

He slated the government for 100pc to 300pc hike in the food prices, the rupee depreciation, massive loans had bad economy.

He apprehended that the country’s nuclear programme could be roll backed due to the prevailing economic crisis.

He regretted the PTI had virtually handed over the country’s control to the IMF, adding that the JI could not sit silent in the prevailing situation and would fight till the people got relief.

The JI chief reiterated the demand for amendment in the Sindh Local Government Act, stressing the need for developing a consensus among the stakeholders. The PPP’s provincial government must listen to the demand of those sitting in front of the Sindh Assembly for the last 19 days.

He regretted the government failed to honor the agreement it signed with the ‘Gwadar Movement’ leader Maulana Hidatur Rahamn. The JI Emir appealed to the people to fully participate in the sit-ins to get their rights.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022