Yaum-i-Iqbal: Iqbal’s Pakistan is lost says Shahbaz

Shahbaz says country can’t progress while Zardari is in charge.

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that today’s Pakistan is not the one perceived by Allama Iqbal as “we are carrying nukes as well as the begging bowl at one and the same time”.

He was addressing a function arranged in connection with Yaum-i-Iqbal by the Nazria-i-Pakistan Trust and the Tehrik-i-Pakistan Workers Trust at Alhamra on Sunday. He said all records of corruption had been broken in the country. He said as long as “Zar Baba and Forty Thieves” were in charge, the country could not progress. He said the Interior Ministry had flouted the Constitution in the Safe City Project and Rs 8 billion had been misappropriated. He appealed to people to elect an honest leadership in the general elections so that Pakistan could be transformed in accordance with the ideals of Allama Iqbal and the Quaid-i-Azam. He asked people to rid Pakistan of “Zar Baba Forty Thieves” so that Pakistan could join the ranks of developed countries like Turkey and China.

Sharif said Allama Iqbal gave the idea of Pakistan but it was unfortunate that Pakistan was standing far behind developed countries today. He said it would not be wrong to say that Iqbal’s Pakistan had been lost. He said the life of poor people had become miserable because of corruption.

He said Iqbal had given a message of freedom, struggle and self-respect. “We have forgotten his principles and are, therefore, struck in the quagmire of hatred, dissension, terrorism, extremism and corruption. We are not only ashamed before Iqbal but also before the martyrs who laid down their lives for the creation of Pakistan,” he said.

He said there was a need to spread the message of Iqbal and steer the people out of despondency, deprivation and darkness and set them on the road to light and prosperity.

He said Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran were trusted friends of Pakistan. They helped Pakistan in need. He said Turkish engineers, doctors and nurses set an example of love by celebrating both their Eids with the flood affectees of South Punjab.

He said the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s decisions should be respected. He said that at a time when the poor were finding it hard to survive, the elite enjoyed all privileges. He said there was ignorance, sorrow, death, humiliation and deprivation for the poor while the rich were enjoying higher education, happiness, respect and prosperity. He said Iqbal’s Pakistan had been divided into two   one for the rich and the other for the poor. He said class conflict was high and there was injustice everywhere.

He said the time was not far off when a revolution would destroy the prevailing system of injustice. He said that during the campaign against dengue and floods, he visited every region and the hatred he saw in the eyes of the deprived masses hinted at a forthcoming revolution. He said people wanted to get rid of “Zar Baba” and “Daba Pirs”. Mansions, palaces, bullet-proof vehicles and ill-gotten wealth would be swept away in the revolution.

He said a Rs10 billion educational endowment fund had been set up in the Punjab, enabling 35,000 students to continue their studies. He said that it was the biggest educational scholarship programme in the history of the country. He said laptops were being given to students on merit and Danish schools had been established for poor students.

He said interest-free loans were being given to skilled youths. He said a network of roads and highways had been laid down in the province and the wages of labourers had been increased substantially. He said information technology labs had been set up in schools and air-conditioned buses were transporting the common man.

Nazria-i-Pakistan Trust Chairman Majid Nizami, Justice (retired) Nasira Javed Iqbal, former federal minister Shaukat Tareen, Ijazul Haq, Pir Kabir Ali Shah Gillani, Samia Raheel Qazi and Qayyum Nizami attended the function.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2012.