LAHORE - Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has accused the government of ignoring overseas Pakistanis who had been earning billions of dollars for the country and helping the nation in every difficulty. Addressing a press conference at Mansoora, he said that there was none to look after the Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the embassies there were not cooperating with them in any manner. He urged the government to rescue these people on emergency basis and provide them free treatment and other facilities. He said that 1,30,000 Pakistanis in both these countries had applied for air tickets. He said that the schedule announced by the government today implied the repatriation of only 3000 Pakistanis till June 10.

Sirajul Haq said that he had personally made every effort to contact the Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis these days but it was all in vain. He said it was a matter of shame that the PIA was charging four, five times more than the normal fare from these people and the Commission mafia was filling pockets by exploiting the helplessness of these people. He said that the government was charging Rs3000 per single night for quarantine from these people besides Rs1500 per day for meals. He demanded that these people should be provided all facilities free of cost. He said that if the PIA was short of funds, a reasonable amount out of the Corona Relief fund of Rs. 1200 billion announced by the government should be reserved for the overseas Pakistanis. He said that the Pakistanis returning home should be treated as guests and not as criminals. 

Referring to the locust issue, the JI Chief said that the governments had not taken effective measures to meet this challenge. He said the farmers had suffered heavy losses due to locust attack. He demanded that the farmers be compensated for their losses from Rs1200 billion Corona relief fund. He further said that the Tiger Force set up by the government could be utilized to throw out the locusts.  He also urged the government to adopt positive attitude towards the people whose corona test was positive. At present, he said, these people were being treated as terrorists and even their bodies were being disgraced. He also demanded that in the next year budget, the non-development expenditure should be dropped and higher amounts should be allocated for health and education.