Sirajul Haq warns the govt against building trade with India

LAHORE, May 12 (SABAH): Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Sirajul Haq has warned the government against building trade with India.

“The nation will not allow the government to develop love bound with New Delhi at cost of Kashmiri blood and plight of Pakistani farmers,” Sirajul Haq told the JI Kissan delegation which called on him at Mansoorah on Thursday.

Led by Shaukat Ali Chaddar (President JI Kissan), the farmers briefed Sirajul Haq about the water shortage issue in Punjab and Sindh, the economic losses which the farmers could incur in case of the resumption of trade with India and other issues related to agriculture.

The JI chief demanded government withdraw GST imposed by the former government on agriculture inputs, decrease the prices of fertilizers and provide electricity to farmers at promised rate of Rs5.85 per unit. The government, he said, should ensure interest-free loans for growers and live-stock farmers. The government, he said, must end riba in light of federal shariah court decision in all sectors.

Sirajul Haq the Pakistani farmers were unable to compete the Indian farmers in prevailing circumstances when they were provided costly seed, water and other agriculture inputs. It was tantamount to destroy the economy of Pakistani growers in case Islamabad allowed import of vegetables and other food items from India, he said, adding the issue of trade with India was even more ideological than the financial one as the Pakistani nation was not ready to build ties with India until the settlement of Kashmir issue according to the wishes of the people of held area. The BJP government, he said, must stop human rights abuses and allow Kashmiris to exercises their free will as per the UN resolutions on the Kashmir issue.

Over 65 percent country’s population linked to agriculture but governments had done nothing for bringing improvement in lives of small farmers and agriculture sector, he said, adding the JI if voted to power it will introduce land reforms, construct roads, hospitals and schools in rural area and build infrastructure to link farms with markets. The JI would also distribute government lands to agriculture graduates, he added.

Apart from climate change, the governments’ negligence to build dams and bad governance and water theft issues were also reason behind the water shortage problems, Sirajul Haq said, asking the government to take immediate measure to resolve the issue permanently.