Jamaat-i-Islami rally: ‘We are not a tsunami of destruction’

JI leaders condemn Sharif, Zardari and recommend cutting ties with IMF.

LAHORE: Amir Jamaat-i-Islami Syed Munawar Hasan said the ‘memogate’ memo was a conspiracy against Pakistan and the Army and demanded that the Supreme Court give its ruling on the matter as soon as possible.

Addressing a huge sit-in at Ferozepur Road he said the US, India and Israel were involved in terror strikes in Pakistan including attacks on the Mehran naval base and the GHQ.

He roundly criticised President Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif saying that the leaders have done nothing for the people except following policies that resulted in price hikes, corruption and unemployment.

He said those who had held office and failed should not be voted for again. He urged people not to be misled by the slogans of past government leaders as they could not be trusted.

Hasan urged the Supreme Court to give its verdict on the memogate issue as soon as possible. He said memogate was aimed at defaming the Army.

He said that the politicians who had abandoned PML-N to join the PML-Q were now joining hands with Imran Khan. They were opportunists, he said, and wanted to deceive the masses once again.

Hasan said that the solution to the country’s problems lay in an end to the US interference and cutting ties with the IMF and the World Bank.

The JI chief said that the PPP and its allies were primarily responsible for the current situation. He said Nawaz Sharif who had supported the Zardari government for over three years was indirectly responsible.

The JI chief said that the memo issue was not a minor issue. It was a serious matter as the tone of the memo and Prime Minister Gilani’s speech in the National Assembly were the same.

He wondered aloud why the prime minister 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, Taqwa and Jehad, and said the military leadership should learn a lesson from the unarmed Afghans who had defeated a super power.

The hand behind the terrorist activities in the country belonged to the US, CIA and the Mossad, and not the Taliban, he said, adding that the CIA was behind the attacks on the GHQ, the Mehran Airbase, and the Selala military posts.

JI secretary general Liaqat Baloch said that the present government had done incalculable harm to national unity and solidarity besides patronising corruption.

The JI would ensure rule of law, justice and equality, an end to exploitation and oppression, Baloch said. He said the JI would also ensure justice and equal opportunities to the minorities.

Punjab JI chief Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar said the government had destroyed every national institution and the masses were anxious about their future. He said the JI was the party of the masses and it alone could steer the country out of the current situation.

The JI ranks, he said, were free from feudal lords and capitalists and its leaders were not involved in loot and plunder.

The Islami Jamiate Talaba chief Syed Abdur Rashid said an Islamic education system that could ensure uniform education all over the country was the prime need of the hour. Former MNA Hafiz Salman Butt said people wanted a real change. However, the change did not mean snatching power from one group of US slaves and handing it over to another.

The Lahore JI chief Amirul Azeem said the Punjab government had deprived the masses of basic facilities.

JI deputy secretary general Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, said that the JI sit-in was not a tsunami of destruction it was a message of peace and stability.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2011.