LAHORE: The Jamaat-i-Islami will launch a countrywide protest movement from Lahore on June 11 unless the government takes measures to eliminate Riba and control inflation in the budget scheduled to be presented on June 10.

Addressing a press conference at Mansoora on Thursday, JI Emir Sirajul Haq said the government had not only continued the policies of the PTI regime but it further burdened the masses with massive inflation.

Haq made it clear the poor people of Pakistan were no longer ready to become sacrificial goats on the dictation of the global lenders, asserting the time had come the ruling elite itself made some sacrifices.

Around Rs42 billion per year were spent on protocol and VIPs lifestyle of the rulers, billions were used on other non-developmental expenses, he said, asking the rulers to take austerity measures and end luxurious lifestyle to prove they were the representatives of the people who were deprived of even the basic facilities.

The JI chief said people in Cholistan had no access to drinking water, hours-long loadshedding continued throughout the country and the government had increased the petrol prices by Rs30 per liter and cooking oil rate by Rs250 per kg. He questioned the government’s claims made before bringing the no-trust movement against the PTI.

The JI, he said, had already made it clear to the people that the ruling parties (the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI) were protectors of the status quo, having no interest in the welfare of the common man. The politicians’ agenda, he said, was obvious as they only wanted to accumulate money and make properties for their generations and keep the masses at their service, he said, adding the rulers wanted to escape accountability.

He congratulated JI Balochistan leader Maulana Hydatur Rahman’s “Gwadar’s Rights Movement” on victory in provincial local bodies elections. He said the Gwadar movement left a lesson for the people of entire Pakistan. The success was certain if the poor stood united and raise voice for their rights, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2022