Balochistan situation has reached a critical level: Sirajul Haq

QUETTA/LAHORE, Mar 11 (SABAH): Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Emir Sirajul Haq has said that the Balochistan situation has reached a critical level, asking the government to wake up from deep slumber and address the problems of the people of the province.

Addressing a press conference in Quetta Press Club on Saturday, Sirajul Haq said the people are not allowed even to hold peaceful protests in favour of their demands.

Everyone is aware of the situation in Gwadar, the leaders of the Gwadar Rights Movement, including Maulana Hidayatur Rahman, are in jail under false cases; raising voice for the rights of the locals is Maulana’s only crime, said Sirajul Haq, giving the government one week time to release Maulana and address demands of the people of the port city. “The JI will give the next action line if demands are unmet.”

The JI chief linked the development of Pakistan to the development of Balochistan. He said waderas and sardars who remained part of every government, were mainly responsible for the plight of the people. Every government and the establishment provided full backing to sardars in their crimes, and many of them run private jails, he said. He said the majority in the province was even deprived of clean drinking water facilities even though they owned the land full of natural resources.

The JI chief said the elections could save the country, and therefore, the PDM and the PPP should sacrifice their governments in the national interest, paving the way for the national poll.

In the prevailing economic situation, he added, separate polls in two provinces and then in the centre and Sindh would not be affordable to the national exchequer.

Sirajul Haq demanded the Election Commission complete local body polls in Karachi. He said the PPP’s provincial government should not interfere with results. He said the mayor of Karachi would be from the Jamaat-e-Islami, warning the Sindh government against stealing people’s mandate.

Meanwhile, the JI chief made a telephonic address to the JI women workers convention in Lahore and held the PDM, the PPP and the PTI equally responsible for economic, political and social crises. He said the ruling parties failed to fulfill their responsibility towards the public issues. The JI, he said, reached the conclusion that politics was business and game for the major political players. Therefore, he added, the JI had decided to stay away from them in future. “We would go to the elections on our own symbol.

The rulers, he said, targeted the poor at the direction of the IMF, imposing billions of rupees in taxes on the masses. Now, he added, the government increased the electricity tariff by Rs15 per unit without paying any heed to the problems of the common man. He said the JI women must spread the message of the party among the women across the country. He said the women should vote for the JI in the elections to transform Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state.