LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq has announced a countrywide protest campaign to be launched by his party on Sunday against the rising inflation in the country.

Addressing the party workers at Mansoora here on Saturday, Mr Haq said the government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the PPP was a continuation of the PTI rule as the ‘troika’ failed to provide any relief to the masses.

He regretted that because of the bad economy, people had to stand in long queues to purchase wheat flour in every city of the country and the prices of essential commodities had gone beyond the common man’s reach.

He deplored the rulers were still busy protecting their own interests and ignoring the real issues. “Hurling abuses at each other and making scandals are their favourite [modes of] politics,” he said and added that tried and tested parties had been badly exposed and the people must get rid of them to put the country on the track.

He said the ruling parties would never come up with a solution to the problems being faced by the country even if they continued to rule for the next hundred years.

He said the establishment had been putting “feeder in the mouths” of the PDM, the PPP and the PTI, as the politics of these parties was entirely dependent on the support and backing of the institution.

Haq said the incumbent and the previous governments wanted to keep the status quo intact.

“The corrupt system suits imperialists,” he said, adding the ruling elite was least interested in accountability and wanted a continuation of the interest-based economy.

He said the ruling elite made wealth and stashed it in fake companies, keeping the masses deprived of even their basic needs.

JI emir regretted the national economy was in control of the International Monetary Fund and the rulers were still looking towards the global lender for solutions to the country’s problems.

He said the JI would continue to struggle for the rights of the people. If voted to power the JI could transform Pakistan into an “Islamic welfare state”, he declared.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2023