Jamat-e-Islami (JI) on Sunday staged a sit-in to protest against corruption and increasing prices in the country in the provincial capital. Top leadership of Jamat-e-Islami including JI Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan, JI General Secretary Liaqat Baloch, JI Ameer (Punjab) Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar, JI Ameer Lahore Ameer-ul-Azeem, former member National Assembly Dr. Fareed Ahmed Paracha and Hafiz Salman Butt were present in the rally. A leader of Tanzeem-e-Islami (Sipah-e-Sahaba) Peer Saif Ullah Khalid was also present as a special guest.
Thousands of men, woman and children from the provincial capital and other cities attended the rally at Ichra which is considered the hub of JI. JI activists were carrying banners inscribed with anti-American and anti-corruption slogans.
Hasan while talking to the rally said the politicians who changed parties frequently could not bring about a revolution in the country. He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had carved out this country for establishing a model Islamic state and the JI alone could convert Quaid’s dream into reality. He said an Islamic revolution and the enforcement of the Shariah were the destiny of this country. He said the politicians who had abandoned the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to join the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid were now joining hands with the Imran Khan were opportunists and wanted to deceive the masses once again. He said the solution to the country’s problems lay in an end to the US interference and bidding farewell to the IMF and the World Bank. The JI chief said the Pakistan People’s Party and its allies were primarily responsible for the present situation in the country but Nawaz Sharif too had provided support to the Zardari government for over three years because without his support.
The JI chief said the memo issue was not a minor issue. It was a serious matter because the tone of the memo and Prime Minister Gilani’s speech in the Assembly was the same and both were about the armed forces. He wondered why the PM was repeatedly challenging the armed forces in spite of the chief justice’s assurance not to validate any extra-constitutional change. He also exhorted the armed forces to revert to their motto of Iman, Taqwah and Jihad and said the military leadership should learn a lesson from the unarmed Afghans who had defeated a super power.
The JI chief said the US, CIA and Mosad were behind the terrorism in the country, adding that the CIA had carried out attacks on the GHQ, the Mehran Airbase and the Salala military posts.
Earlier JI Secretary General, Liaqat Baloch, in his address, said the present rulers had done incalculable harm to national unity and solidarity besides patronising corruption. He said the country must be freed from the burden of $63 billions of foreign debt. The JI would ensure rule of law, justice and equality and an end to exploitation and oppression. The JI manifesto guaranteed lowering the prices, abolition of unjust and oppressive taxes, cutting down cost prices of industries and agricultural output. He said the JI would also ensure justice and equal opportunities to the minorities.
Akhtar, in his address, said the rulers had destroyed every institution of the country and the masses were disappointed about their future due to the government’s wrong policies. He said the JI was the masses’ party and it alone could steer the country out of the present situation. The JI ranks were free from feudal lords and capitalists and its leaders were not involved in loot and plunder.
Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba chief Abdur Rashid, in his address, said an Islamic education system that could ensure uniform education all over the country was the prime need of the hour. He said the presence of a huge gathering of women at the rally implied that the people wanted to get rid of the US slaves and desired a truly Islamic revolution.
Former MNA and Railway workers leader Hafiz Salman Butt in his address said the people wanted a real change. However, the change did not mean snatching power from one group of US slaves and handing it over to the other.
JI deputy SG Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha said the JI sit- was not a tsunami of destruction but was a message of peace and stability for the masses.
JI Lahore chief Amirul Azeem said the rulers of Punjab had deprived the masses of basic facilities and the life and property of the people was not safe.
It would be important to mention here that like Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, workers of JI also showed some skills by singing different political songs in order to attract the attention of participants and locals of Ichra. Around 1,500 policemen provided security to the sit-in.
‘Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari did it’
