LOWER DIR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq on Saturday declared the Imran Khan government a sinking ship and said the ruling PTI had failed to deliver the goods on all fronts.

He told reporters at the Ahyaul Uloom seminary in Balambat area here that Premier Imran Khan led a puppet government, which was on its way out.

The JI chief said his party had begun a mass contact movement to bring about a ‘real change’ in the country.

He said the government ministers frequently degraded the country and its institutions, including PIA, NAB and parliament.

Jamaat chief opposes presidentional system

“The country has become a colony of the International Monetary Fund,” he said.

Mr Siraj complained about the medicine and fuel shortages and said the people were in distress due to bad governance.

He said his party won’t support the introduction of the presidential form of government in the country.

The Jamaat leader claimed that the incidence of corruption in government institutions had increased in the country as the people had to bribe officials for legitimate work.

Earlier, he addressed a function at the Aghoosh Centre, Gulabad, and praised the Al-Khidmat Foundation for helping out the families affected by Covid-19 and lockdown.

He flayed the government for allocating Rs27 billion for education and Rs26 billion for healthcare and spending Rs40 billion on the construction of Kartarpur Corridor.

Meanwhile, Mr Siraj told reporters in Swat on Friday that the incompetence of the government had led to the banning of PIA flights in most parts of the world, including the US.

He alleged that the ruling PTI had handed over the economy to the International Monetary Fund and health sector to the World Health Organisation to the misery of the people.

“The incompetent rulers have defamed the national carrier in the world and destroyed all other national institutions, including the Pakistan Railways,” he said.

The Jamaat leader said the Steel Mills was also on the verge of collapse.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan, instead of providing the promised 10 million jobs, had made 17 million people jobless.

Meanwhile, Jamaat provincial chief Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Friday said the advice of the Council of Islamic Ideology on the construction of a Hindu temple in Islamabad would be acceptable to all, including his party.

He told reporters in Naurang town of Lakki Marwat district that his party always took practical steps to protect the constitutional rights of religious minorities.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2020