Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Sirajul Haq presented himself on Sunday for accountability in the wake of Panama Papers controversy and corruption accusations against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family.
“I present myself and my team for accountability as I begin the fight against corruption from my own self,” he said while addressing a sit-in at Mall Road in Lahore.
The JI chief also announced to hold countrywide protests against corruption from May 1.
A massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents on April 3 exposed the secret offshore dealings of world leaders and celebrities, also naming three of PM Nawaz’s children for owning London real estate through offshore companies.
“Only JI can save Pakistan from the rampant corruption because we do not have any allegations or stigma of corruption against us,” Sirajul Haq added.
Terming it as economic terrorism, he urged people who had gathered in the rally to raise their voice against growing corruption in the corridors of power.
“The rulers have not only failed us, they have destroyed the future of coming generations of this country.”
The prime minister, the Ameer said, often boast about establishing Pakistan Steel Mills and asked him “why the employees of PSM have not been paid for months?
Criticisng the performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the JI chief said both had failed to work for people.
“We had a lot of expectations from NAB. But now we ask them that how could they forgive the plunderers of this nation? Neither NAB nor FBR worked well,” he said.
Taking a stand against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after the Panama Papers revelations, the leader of the religious party said the incumbent rulers earned their money from Pakistan and invest it in foreign countries.
“They earn here in Pakistan and keep their wealth, assets in Panama. I am taken aback at the thought that poor children are dying in this country and the rulers are investing their money in Panama,” he said.
‘Pakistan will not be made a secular state’
Sirajul Haq also said the PM Nawaz would often say that Pakistan will be transformed into a liberal and secular state but his wish couldn’t become a reality.
“The graves of Hazrat Ali Hajvery, Allama Iqbal and Maulana Abul Ala Maududi in this very city Lahore are the reasons that Pakistan cannot become a secular country,” he said.
“Pakistan will remain to be an Islamic state and therefore a prosperous country,” he added.The head of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Sunday dismissed the notion that the Islamic State group or Da’ish posed any threat to Pakistan, warning that “Da’ish -style political terrorists sitting in the power corridors” constituted a bigger threat.
Such political terrorists have pushed the country to the brink of destruction over the last 68 years, according to Senator Sirajul Haq, who is the central president of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Speaking to a party gathering in Dera Allahyar, he said that the rulers were looting the public welfare funds in the name of commission and the proof of it lay in the transfer of $375 billion to foreign banks.
He said his party a campaign would be launched from Karachi to Chitral in March against corruption in the country, calling upon the rulers to stop excesses against the people of Balochistan.
The senator said that the non-provision of electricity to Jaffarabad from Uch power plant was tantamount to darkness under the lamp itself. He said that despite production of 990 megawatts of electricity from the Uch power plant, local residents were not receiving electricity.
Sirajul Haq said that every child of the nation is reeling under the debt of the IMF, adding that inflation and poverty are the order of the day. He said the only solution to eliminating poverty in the country is to introduce Islam’s equitable social system. The senator called upon the federal government to give Balochistan 7.13 per cent share of the national economy.
He said that although the Pakistan Peoples Party came into power four times, it could not fufill its promise of roti, kapra, and makan.
