A delegation of the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) comprising representatives from the Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) called on Jamaat eIslami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq at Mansoora, on Saturday and apprised him of the problems of the clerks and lower grade government employees.
The JI chief assured the delegation that the JI members of the parliament would take up their problems and demands in both the houses of the parliament.
Sirajul Haq said it was the responsibility of the state to provide the facilities of health, education, employment and housing to the citizens. However, he said that the rulers were spending most of the budget on non-development schemes whereas the government employees were deprived of the basic facilities of life.
He said that education and health were most important sectors of life but only three per cent of the budget was being spent on these. On the other hand, he said, a colossal sum of Rs. seven billion was being spent on the security of the rulers.
Sirajul Haq impressed upon the APCA delegation that they were employees of the state and not any individual. He said if any government representative pressurised them for unconstitutional and unlawful acts or for any activity harmful to the state, they should flatly refuse to obey, and keep the national interest supreme.
He said that the forces of the status quo had taken the state institutions and democratic system as hostages and the elite class was exploiting the masses, including the farmers and worker.
He said the JI was committed to evolving a system in which the tillers of land and industrial workers were the shareholders of the farm produce and industrial production. The JI on coming into power would raise the minimum wages of workers to Rs. 30,000, he said.
