Sirajul Haq vows to unite political forces on single platform

PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq on Sunday vowed to bring all political parties on a single platform and step up efforts for the rights of the tribal districts.Addressing the ‘Tribal Workers Convention’ here, he said his party would continue to raise voice for the rights of the tribal people at every forum.He said they had once formed a grand political jirga in 2003 for the hydel net profit of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and together with all the political leadership of the province they effectively contested the case of the province against “dictator Pervez Musharraf” and the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz.“Today, once again it is high time to unite all the political leaders from the province on a single platform and launch a fight for the rights of the tribal people,” he said.A large number of tribal people attended the convention. JI provincial president Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, party’s parliamentary leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Inayatullah Khan, JI leaders from tribal areas, including Sahibzada Haroonur Rasheed, Sardar Khan, Zarnoor Afridi, Saeed Khan and others addressed the gathering. Sirajul Haq said the government had announced a package of Rs1000 billion for the tribal areas of which Rs100 billion were supposed to be released every year. However, he said eight months had passed but no progress could be made, he said. He said the government had announced to allocate 3 percent of the National Finance Commission Award for the recently merged tribal districts but to no avail.The JI leader said that no progress could be made towards the establishment of the medical college, engineering university and other professional colleges in the tribal districts. He said the JI had strived to get the erstwhile Fata rid of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and bring them into the mainstream. “But despite the merger, the government seems least interested in giving rights to the people of the tribal districts,” he maintained.Sirajul Haq assured the participants that the JI would continue to support them in every difficult situation. He reminded the government of its promise of giving jobs to 10 million people and build houses for five million families. “Instead of giving jobs to people and building houses for them, the government has been busy depriving people of their jobs and knocking down their houses,” he said.The JI leader said that the government was bent upon depriving the Levies and Khassadar force personnel of their jobs on the pretext that their ages were around 50. “Let me remind you that the prime minister is above 70. If he can become prime minister, why not my tribal brothers serve as Khassadar,” he stressed.Sirajul Haq blasted the provincial government for its failure to complete the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project within the stipulated time.He said the resources of the province were wasted on a useless project which has become a persistent source of nuisance for the people.The JI chief added that nearly Rs100 billion have been spent on the project only to convert this city of flowers into the city of ditches, mud and dirt, which have been causing diseases to the dwellers. “Six months had been given as stipulated time for the completion of the project, but nearly two years have passed and its completion is still a far cry,” he maintained.The JI chief said the people voted the ruling party to power in the hope that it would have some vision and programme, but all its claims were nothing more than hollow slogans

from The News International - Peshawar https://ift.tt/2NULOaj